End of the road for 'light' cigarettes after epic US tobacco case

America's big cigarette makers must stop describing their products as "low tar," "light," "ultra light" or "mild," according to the decision of a long-running legal battle with the US Government - but they will not have to pay billions of dollars on campaigns to stop people smoking.

Although the US Department of Justice formally won the case, the judge, US District Judge Gladys Kessler, said she could not force the tobacco makers to pay for $14 billion (£7.4 billion) of anti-smoking remedies because of an appeal ruling in a separate case that limited their financial liabilities.

Instead, the tobacco companies, which include Philip Morris USA, RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company and British American Tobacco, will have to change their labels, put all the documents used in the seven-year case on their websites until 2016 and take out television and full-page newspaper advertisements to explain the changes.
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