WASHINGTON, Aug. 17 (UPI) -- U.S. cigarette makers were convicted Thursday in federal court of conspiring to deceive the public about the dangers of smoking.
U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler's 1,742-page decision cited "overwhelming evidence" to support federal prosecutors in their civil racketeering suit against Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris USA and a handful of other cigarette makers.
The judge ordered the defendants to stop labeling some cigarettes as "low tar," "light," "ultra light," among other deceptive terms. She also ordered the defendants to issue corrective statements in various media about how dangerous cigarette smoking and second-hand smoke is and how the industry designed cigarettes to be as addictive as possible.
Kessler said the case "was about an industry ... that survives, and profits, from selling a highly addictive product which causes diseases that lead to a staggering number of deaths per year, an immeasurable amount of human suffering and economic loss and a profound burden on our national healthcare system. Defendants have known many of these facts for at least 50 years or more."
