Big tobacco is spending millions of dollars to inform Americans of the truth about their products — truth that those same companies spent decades denying and trying to litigate to death. News media companies spent millions defending themselves against Big Tobacco in court simply for having reported the very truths that Big Tobacco now must spend millions to advertise themselves.

Try as major tobacco companies might, they no longer can deny the lethality of the nicotine-delivery systems they produce. Rather, they are being forced to embrace the truth — that tobacco products are addictive and deadly — even as those companies continue foisting cigarettes, snuff and other health-destroying products upon consumers.

Under court order, Big Tobacco companies must now issue "corrective statements" to counter the lies they perpetuated in decades of advertisements. All this stems from a 1999 Justice Department lawsuit against tobacco giants Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds. The companies challenged and appealed a 2006 ruling until, finally, 11 years later, they could delay no more.

So starting last month, full-page ads began appearing in newspapers and on primetime TV explaining in unambiguous terms why you should never start smoking and should quit immediately if you already do smoke.

The companies admit that they deliberately spiked cigarettes with nicotine to get users hooked. They must declare the deadly nature of their products in terms that all can understand: "More people die every year from smoking than from murder, AIDS, suicide, drugs, car crashes and alcohol combined," one ad says. They must admit that second-hand smoke causes cancer, and so-called "light" cigarettes are no safer than regular ones.

A delicious irony is that tobacco companies must place these ads in the very media outlets that they once threatened with expensive lawsuits merely because news organizations reported these same truths. Recall the expensive court battles that ABC News and CBS' "60 Minutes" endured when tobacco-company informants came forth to expose the realities of cancer and addiction behind cigarettes.

The sad "60 Minutes" saga is portrayed in the 1999 film, "The Insider," which details the lengths to which cigarette maker Brown & Williamson went to halt an investigation into the deceptive tactics and nicotine manipulation manufacturers used to hook smokers and ensure a growing customer base.

The new ads offer no apologies, but they are blunt. "Smoking kills, on average, 1,200 Americans. Every day," one ad says.

"Smoking is highly addictive. Nicotine is the addictive drug in tobacco. Cigarette companies intentionally designed cigarettes with enough nicotine to create and sustain addiction," says another.

For all who criticize government overreach, only strong federal court and government intervention could have balanced the scales between manipulative corporate giants and the people whose lives they've destroyed in the name of greed.

REPRINTED FROM THE ST LOUIS POST DISPATCH