A U.S. federal court has recognized a group of tobacco companies guilty of hiding the truth about the harmful effects of smoking for several decades. According to AFP, producers of cigarettes will be banned for using terms that indicate a lower degree of injury on their products.

As Gladys Kessler a District Judge of Washington, stated it is indisputable now that smoking cigarettes causes disease and death. "Despite the internal recognition of this fact, the defendants for decades publicly denied, distorted and minimized the hazards of smoking" - stated the judge in the lawsuit against several tobacco companies including Philip Morris USA.

Judge Kessler imposed a permanent ban on the use in the design of cigarette packs and advertising of cigarettes formulations, which give a positive connotation describing the influence of smoking on health. This restriction came into force on January 1, 2007.

The forbidden descriptions include such words as 'low tar', 'light', 'ultra light', 'mild', 'natural' and any other words, convincing a buyer that smokes cigarette brands with this description reduces the risk of disease compared with other smoking cigarette brands. You can also find an e-Book about method to stop smoking that describes many situations related to those descriptions.

The court also ordered tobacco companies to make "corrective statements", which should be referred to the dangers of smoking, as well as "manipulation of cigarette design that have been taken to ensure favorable supply of nicotine". These statements should be posted on the websites of companies, individual printed inserts in cigarette packs, as well as printed as a full-page ad published in Sunday editions of a number of American newspapers.

Posts with similar treatment should also be issued on air "one or more" U.S. national television networks - CBS, ABC and NBC.