A Hypocritical Attack on Anti-Smoking Ads

Re “Tobacco Companies Sue State,” April 3: I am appalled at the sheer hypocrisy and greed of R.J. Reynolds and Lorillard in suing to stop California’s anti- tobacco advertising campaign. These tobacco companies claim that California’s Department of Health Services ads are “vilifying” them. Yet how can one vilify two of the leading companies in an industry that the U.S. surgeon general contends kills 430,000 Americans every year? How can one further hurt the reputation of companies that have a long, documented history of deliberately targeting minor children with advertising for their addictive and deadly products?

How much more “nasty, low [and] personal,” as an attorney for R.J. Reynolds characterized the ads, can one get than to inflict upon millions of people some of the most horrendous, painful, deadly and debilitating diseases known to humankind? The tobacco companies have already vilified themselves through many decades of unconscionable conduct.

Stephen A. Silver

Concord, Calif.