It seems that the hottest item of the day is the lawsuits against the tobacco companies.
For many generations, smoking has been a health problem to both the smoker and those around him. And there are some of us who have respiratory problems, who are glad for clean-air legislation.But, I think that those who have filed the lawsuits are going about trying to solve the problem in the wrong way. First, no one ever forced those addicted to cigarettes to start smoking. Second, no person ever started smoking who didn't know about the poisons that he was inhaling. Third, every pack of cigarettes has a warning on it that says cigarettes are hazardous for health. Therefore, education is not the answer.
I can see a parallel between this situation and what happened in the late 1920s and the early 1930s, when the government said to the American people, "You shall not drink whiskey." They called it Prohibition. At that, there were millions of people who were defiant enough to say, "You aren't going to tell me what I can't do." Therefore, many people started to drink who probably would never have done so.
Now, we have parents in the homes who are saying, "I'll smoke if I want to, and nobody is going to tell me otherwise." As a consequence, all of the kids, hearing their parents, are saying the same thing; and so, more young people are starting to smoke now than ever before in history. Yes, smoking is a problem but not to the tobacco companies because they have but to raise the prices on their products. Then with the increase in the number of users, they can easily cover the cost of all of the lawsuits.
An article in the Journal of American Medical Association stated that in the year 1990, research showed that tobacco was responsible for more deaths in America than any other one thing.
C. Calvin Campbell
Price