Wow, these smokers are really adament about fighting to keep their right to smoke. The fight is about truth in advertising. Obviously, if one is already addicted to cigarettes, they believe it is their right to smoke. The concentration should be on the untruthful marketing to young people. When you label something as light, you make a false implication that it is safer than regular cigarettes. Fewer carcinogens do not prevent you from getting cancer. Smoking any kind of cigarette is dangerous and it kills. Yes, we are all going to die, but what quality of life do you want to have? Do you want to have to walk around with an oxygen tank? Or have an artificial voice because of destroying your larynx? Or a hole in your neck because you can no longer breathe through your mouth?...........Wow. How many of these comments are posted by someone who has in investment in the tobacco industry I wonder?
Snuffed Out
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What has the federal government done recently to fight Big Tobacco?
Federally speaking, taking on the big tobacco companies has virtually come to a standstill under the Bush administration. For instance, almost every nation in the world has ratified an important World Health Organization (WHO) treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. But not the United States. The Bush administration has never sent the treaty to the Senate. The Bush administration has strong ties to the tobacco industry. Karl Rove worked as a tobacco lobbyist before joining the White House, and so have other significant figures in the Bush administration. [Rove is now a contributor to NEWSWEEK.]
Any chance of a more assertive attitude when a new president takes office?
Many of the current candidates would probably send the WHO treaty to the Senate.
If we look 10 years ahead, what do you think the situation will be?
The battleground is becoming global. Now that people in more affluent and well-educated societies are quitting smoking, the tobacco industry is very aggressive about finding new markets. Today one in five Americans smoke, as opposed to almost half of all adults a few decades ago. But worldwide there are probably more smokers now than ever before in human history. The WHO estimates that in the 21st century, approximately 1 billion people will die worldwide of tobacco-related diseases. That's 10 times the number that died in the 20th century. The real issue for the future will be to ensure that worldwide smoking becomes less instead of more prevalent.
Last question: are you a smoker yourself?
[Laughs] No, I've never smoked.
© 2007
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