Community Corner
Should Tobacco Companies Have to Admit Deception?
Is the publishing of "truth" ads by the tobacco companies a wise use of funding? Could it not be better used another way?
This week tobacco companies were ordered by a federal judge to publish corrective statements admitting they lied about the dangers of smoking. The companies reportedly have to disclose the true dangers of smoking, including that it kills on average 1,200 people a day.
In a story in Time, it was reported that these statements have to be done in the form of ads that also say the tobacco companies, “deliberately deceived the American public about the health effects of smoking.”
Other ads have to include statements that smoking kills more people than murder, AIDS, suicide, drugs, car crashes and alcohol combined and that “secondhand smoke kills over 3,000 Americans a year.”
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So is this a fair punishment for the tobacco companies for deceiving the American people for all those years? Also, do you think this it a wise use of the funding or could that money be better spent another way?
