The Delaware Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit brought by Lorillard Tobacco Co. against the American Legacy Foundation, creators of the anti-tobacco Truth campaign, the Associated Press reported on July 17.

Lorillard argued that the foundation's anti-tobacco ads violated a 1998 agreement between the tobacco industry and the states that prohibited the foundation from vilifying or personally attacking tobacco companies or executives.

One ad Lorillard objected to involved a teen offering to sell the company dog urine because it contains the chemical urea, which is found in the company's cigarettes.

'The advertisements are not invidious, disparaging, offensive, belligerent, nor fiercely or severely critical,' the Delaware court decided on July 17, according to an American Legacy Foundation press release. 'The tone of the youth in the advertisements is usually expressly friendly or helpful, even if implicitly drawing attention to unflattering facts about past actions of tobacco companies or their employees.'

'I'm just delighted that this five-year unfounded action against us has come to an end and that we have a license to save lives,' said Cheryl Healton, president and chief executive officer of the foundation, which was founded in1999 as a result of the 1998 agreement.

The American Journal of Public Health attributed 22 percent of the overall decline in youth smoking from 2000 to 2002 to the Truth campaign.