Tobacco Companies To Begin Airing Ads Warning About Dangers Of Smoking
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A court case that began 11 years ago to force Big Tobacco to tell the truth about it's products is finally bearing fruit. Those companies must start airing advertisements Sunday about tobacco's fatal effects.
The official term is called "corrective statements." Tobacco companies must run true ads about the fatal effects of tobacco products.
"It's long overdue," said Doctor Ted Christopher, head of the Pennsylvania Medical Society. "The numbers are staggering. 400,000 plus patients die every year from smoking. $325 billion in lost productivity every year."
The initial lawsuit was filed by the Justice Department in 1999, and resulted in a judgment that found companies had lied about the dangers of smoking since the beginning. Christopher says the list of health issues linked to tobacco is endless.
"It causes cancer of the lung, it causes heart disease, it causes leukemia," he said. "I mean it goes on and on."
The ads will appear on television and in newspapers. But there is no provision for anti-tobacco ads to appear on the new social media, which did not exist in 1999.