Tobacco Companies to Run Ads Admitting to Lying About Health Risks

Agreement reached with DOJ

Tobacco companies are a step closer today to putting out "corrective statements" about their history of defrauding the American public by hiding the dangers of smoking, according to an agreement reached Friday with the Department of Justice.

The agreement was reached the day before the 50th anniversary of the Surgeon General warning on tobacco and lung cancer, released Jan. 11, 1964.

The long-awaited advertising campaign was ordered in 2006 by U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler, who found tobacco companies guilty of violating civil racketeering laws and lying to the public about the dangers of smoking and their marketing to children. Kessler must approve the agreement.