US TOBACCO companies are fuming after a federal judge ordered them to describe themselves as unscrupulous villains who continue to deceive the public.

In an appeals court filing on Wednesday, the industry claimed that statements ordered by US District Judge Gladys Kessler in a government lawsuit would trigger public anger against the companies and should be scrapped.

Judge Kessler had ordered several of the largest cigarette makers to admit that they had lied for decades about the dangers of smoking and to publicise a federal court conclusion that Altria, RJ Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard and Philip Morris USA had deliberately deceived the public.

The companies claimed the statement was misleading and too broad.

In 2009, the US Court of Appeals for the Washington area had directed Judge Kessler to craft corrective statements confined to purely factual information that would reveal previously hidden truths about the tobacco industry’s products.

But the companies claimed in the new filing that Judge Kessler had gone far beyond those instructions and had instead issued a series of inflammatory statements requiring the defendants to denigrate themselves.

The companies said that, in accordance with the appeals court’s ruling, they were ready to disseminate reasonable statements providing public health information about cigarettes.

Further arguments in the case will be heard on February 23.

Meanwhile The American Red Cross faced renewed pressure from its international parent, which claims it could damage the reputation of the global movement over its refusal to stop accepting donations from tobacco companies.