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Judge Bars ‘Light’ Cigarette Ads

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From the Associated Press

A federal judge has denied a request by tobacco companies to let them keep marketing “light” and “low tar” cigarettes until an appeal is completed in their case.

U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler ruled in August that the cigarette makers violated racketeering laws and misled the public about the health consequences of smoking.

Kessler ordered them to stop marketing light and low-tar cigarettes and said the companies must make public statements about nicotine addiction and the health effects of smoking.

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The companies immediately asked Kessler to hold off on enforcing that order until the appeal was complete, a process that could take years. They said they would lose business to companies not affected by the ruling.

Kessler rejected that request late last week, saying the public would be harmed by a delay.

“Loss of market share, if it results from imposing an appropriate remedy to prevent and restrain past violations of the law, may well be the price defendants have to pay,” Kessler wrote.

The tobacco companies, which have appealed Kessler’s judgment, can still ask an appeals court to put the ruling on hold.

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