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Price v. Philip Morris12/15/2005
e, the less harmful the effects on the health of the smoker. United States Department of Health and Human Services, The Health Consequences of Smoking: The Changing Cigarette, at i (1981) (quoting 1996 statement by Public Health Service). Later that same year, the FTC announced that it had sent letters to each of the major United States cigarette manufacturers ending the ban on including tar and nicotine content on labels and in advertising of cigarettes. The letters stated:
"The Cigarette Advertising Guides promulgated by the Commission in September 1955 provided that no representation should be made that any brand of cigarette or the smoke therefrom is low in nicotine or tars * when it has not been established by competent scientific proof applicable at the time of dissemination that the claim is true, and if true, that such difference or differences are significant. On the basis of the facts now available to it, the Commission has determined that a factual statement of the tar and nicotine content (expressed in milligrams) of the mainstream smoke from a cigarette would not be in violation of such Guides, or of any of the provisions of law administered by the Commission, so long as (1) no collateral representation (other than factual statements of tar and nicotine contents of cigarettes offered for sale to the public) are made, expressly or by implication, as to reduction or elimination of health hazards, and (2) the statement of tar and nicotine content is supported by adequate records of tests conducted in accordance with the Cambridge Filter Method ... . It is the Commission's position that it is in the public interest to promote the dissemination of truthful information concerning cigarettes which may be material and desired by the consuming public." 6 Trade Reg. Rep. (CCH) par. 39,012.70 (1988).
When public concern about the health effects of smoking began to increase, the FTC determined that it might be desirable for consumers to be able to choose among cigarette brands based on their yield of tar and nicotine. In support of this goal, the FTC, in 1967, adopted the "Cambridge Method" (FTC method) as the single acceptable means of measuring tar and nicotine yields in cigarettes. The record is clear that both the FTC and the cigarette manufacturers were aware at that time that no method of measurement, including the FTC method, could accurately predict the actual exposure of individual smokers who smoked any particular brand of cigarette. The variations in smoking habits, including the phenomenon of compensation , are simply too complex to account for in any uniform test. However, despite this awareness that the test data would not be accurate as to any individual smoker, the FTC found this concern outweighed by the need for a basis for comparison among brands. Thus, the FTC method was adopted for the purpose of providing a consistent benchmark, not as a means of measuring the actual exposure of individual smokers to tar and nicotine.
FTC Press Release-Statement of Considerations 2 (August 1, 1967).
The FTC later declared that a manufacturer's use of tar and nicotine measurements based on the FTC method would be deemed substantiated and would not result in any regulatory action. Eventually, the FTC authorized cigarette manufacturers to include in their advertising a statement of the tar and nicotine content of their cigarettes, expressed in milligrams, as measured by the FTC method. Indeed, the FTC itself presented these measurements in its reports to Congress and published the data for circulation to consumers. 4 Trade Reg. Rep. (CCH) par. 39,012.70. See also Letter from Federal Trade Commission to major cigarette manufacturers and to Robert. B. Meyner, Administrat
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