WASHINGTON -- A federal judge has denied a request by tobacco companies to continue marketing light and low-tar cigarettes until an appeal is settled in the case, according to the Associated Press.
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.
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 already appealed Kessler's judgment, can still ask an appeals court to put the ruling on hold.
Since the ruling, visitors to R.J. Reynolds' Web site www.rjrt.com have been met with this message: The Web site of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company is currently under review by the company. Please check back later.
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