United States v. Philip Morris USA

CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedNovember 27, 2012
DocketCivil Action No. 1999-2496
StatusPublished

This text of United States v. Philip Morris USA (United States v. Philip Morris USA) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Philip Morris USA, (D.D.C. 2012).

Opinion

APPENDIX A

Corrective Statement Citations

Corrective Statement A: Adverse Health Effects of Smoking

A Federal Court has ruled that the Defendant tobacco companies deliberately deceived the American public about the health effects of smoking, 1 and has ordered those companies to make this statement. 2 Here is the truth:

• Smoking kills, on average, 1200 Americans. Every day. 3 • More people die every year from smoking than from murder, AIDS, suicide, drugs, car crashes, and alcohol, combined. 4 • Smoking causes heart disease, 5 emphysema, 6 acute myeloid leukemia, 7 and cancer of the mouth, 8 esophagus, 9 larynx, 10 lung, 11 stomach, 12 kidney, 13 bladder, 14 and pancreas. 15 1 449 F. Supp. 2d at 146 (“Cigarette smoking causes disease, suffering, and death. Despite internal recognition of this fact, Defendants have publicly denied, distorted and minimized the hazards of smoking for decades.”); id. at 208 (“From at least 1953 until at least 2000, each and every one of these Defendants repeatedly, consistently, vigorously – and falsely – denied the existence of any adverse health effects from smoking.”); id. at 856 (“Defendants fraudulently denied the adverse health effects of smoking for at least 40 years in order to sustain the appearance of an open controversy about the link between smoking and disease, and thereby maintain and enhance the cigarette market and their collective revenues.”). 2 Id. at 938-39 (“Each Defendant shall be required to make separate corrective statements concerning . . . (a) the adverse health effects of smoking . . . .”). 3 Id. at 146 (“Cigarette smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke (also known as environmental tobacco smoke or ‘ETS’) kills nearly 440,000 Americans every year.”); id. at 854-55 (“Cigarette smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke kills 440,000 Americans every year, or more than 1,200 every single day.). 4 Id. at 147 (“The annual number of deaths due to cigarette smoking is substantially greater than the combined annual number of deaths due to illegal drug use, alcohol consumption, automobile accidents, fires, homicides, suicides, and AIDS.”); id. at 855 (same). 5 Id. (“Cigarette smoking, including exposure to secondhand smoke, causes cardiovascular disease, including myocardial infarction (commonly known as ‘heart attack’), coronary heart disease (‘CHD’) and atherosclerosis.”). 6 Id. (“Cigarette smoking causes chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (‘COPD’). . . . COPD, previously referred to as ‘emphysema’ or ‘chronic bronchitis,’ was found to be causally related to smoking in 1964.”). 7 Id. at 148 (“Cigarette smoking causes acute myeloid leukemia.”). 8 Id. at 147 (“Cigarette smoking causes oral cancer.”). 9 Id. (“Cigarette smoking causes esophageal cancer.”). 10 Id. (“Cigarette smoking causes laryngeal cancer.”). 11 Id. (“Cigarette smoking causes lung cancer.”). 12 Id. at 148 (“Cigarette smoking causes stomach cancer.”). 13 Id. at 147 (“Cigarette smoking causes kidney cancer.”). 14 Id. (“Cigarette smoking causes bladder cancer.”).

-1- • Smoking also causes reduced fertility, 16 low birth weight in newborns, 17 and cancer of the cervix 18 and uterus. 19

15 Id. (“Cigarette smoking causes pancreatic cancer.”). 16 Id. at 148 (“Cigarette smoking causes reduced fertility.”). 17 Id. (“Cigarette smoking causes adverse reproductive outcomes, including . . . pre-term delivery and shortened gestation, fetal growth restriction and low birth weight.”). 18 Id. (“Cigarette smoking causes . . . cervical cancer.”). 19 Id. (“Cigarette smoking causes uterine . . . cancer.”).

-2- Corrective Statement B: Addictiveness of Smoking and Nicotine

A Federal Court has ruled that the Defendant tobacco companies deliberately deceived the American public about the 20 addictiveness of smoking and nicotine, and has ordered those companies to make this statement. 21 Here is the truth:

• Smoking is highly addictive. 22 Nicotine is the addictive drug in tobacco. 23 • Cigarette companies intentionally designed cigarettes with enough nicotine to create and sustain addiction. 24 • It’s not easy to quit. 25 • When you smoke, the nicotine actually changes the brain – that’s why quitting is so hard. 26

20 Id. at 209 (“Notwithstanding the understanding and acceptance of each Defendant that smoking and nicotine are addictive, Defendants have publicly denied and distorted the truth as to the addictive nature of their products for several decades. Defendants have publicly denied that nicotine is addictive, have suppressed research showing its addictiveness, and have repeatedly used misleading statistics as to the number of smokers who have quit voluntarily and without professional help.”); id. at 271 (“Defendants have publicly made false and misleading denials of the addictiveness of smoking, as well as nicotine’s role in causing that addiction . . . .”); id. at 307 (“For approximately forty years, Defendants publicly, vehemently, and repeatedly denied the addictiveness of smoking and nicotine’s central role in smoking.”); id. at 856 (“Defendants have made and continue to make false and fraudulent statements about the addictiveness of nicotine and smoking.”). 21 Id. at 938-39 (“Each Defendant shall be required to make separate corrective statements concerning . . . (b) the addictiveness of smoking and nicotine; . . . .”). 22 Id. at 208 (“Cigarette smoking is an addictive behavior, characterized by drug craving, compulsive use, tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, and relapse after withdrawal.”). 23 Id. (“Nicotine is the primary component of cigarettes that creates and sustains addiction to cigarettes.”); id. at 216 (“Published research indicates that 77% to 92% of smokers are addicted to nicotine in cigarettes.”); id. at 856 (“Defendants’ internal research reflects their understanding that nicotine is the most important chemical delivered by cigarettes because it is what compels smokers to smoke.”). 24 Id. at 219 (“Defendants purposefully designed and sold products that delivered a pharmacologically effective dose of nicotine in order to create and sustain nicotine addiction in smokers.”); id. at 856 (“[Defendants’] product research and development efforts had the overriding objective of harnessing and manipulating the power of nicotine and ensuring that their marketed products delivered enough nicotine to create and sustain addiction.”). 25 Id. at 216 (“Every year, an estimated seventeen million people in the United States attempt to quit smoking. Fewer than one and a half million, or 8%, succeed in quitting permanently.”); id. (“People who try to quit smoking often experience withdrawal symptoms that can be extremely disruptive. Accordingly, it is usually very difficult for the smoker to stop smoking cigarettes.”).

-3- Corrective Statement C: Lack of Significant Health Benefit From Smoking “Low Tar,” “Light,” “Ultra Light,” “Mild,” and “Natural,” Cigarettes

A Federal Court has ruled that the Defendant tobacco companies deliberately deceived the American public by falsely selling and advertising low tar and light cigarettes as less harmful than regular cigarettes, 27 and has ordered those companies to make this statement. 28 Here is the truth:

• Many smokers switch to low tar and light cigarettes rather than quitting because they think low tar and light cigarettes are less harmful. 29 They are not. • “Low tar” and filtered cigarette smokers inhale essentially the same amount of tar and nicotine as they would from regular cigarettes. 30

26 Id. at 210 (“As occurs with the use of all psychoactive drugs, the brain attempts to adapt to the persistent presence of nicotine. This adaptation, or tolerance, produces actual changes in the brain's structure. Over time, the brain becomes tolerant to the effects of nicotine and needs even greater amounts of it to produce the same effects on hormones as it once did before the development of tolerance.”); id.

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Bluebook (online)
United States v. Philip Morris USA, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-philip-morris-usa-dcd-2012.