The Easiest Target

WASHINGTON, DC August 17 (AP) - A federal judge ruled Thursday that the nation's top cigarette makers violated racketeering laws, deceiving the public for years about the health hazards of smoking, but said she couldn't order them to pay the billions of dollars the government had sought.

U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler did order the companies to publish in newspapers and on their Web sites “corrective statements” on the adverse health effects and addictiveness of smoking and nicotine.

She also ordered tobacco companies to stop labeling cigarettes as “low tar,” “light,” “ultra light” or “mild,” since such cigarettes have been found to be no safer than others because of how people smoke them.

BOSTON August 30 (CBS/AP) - The level of nicotine that smokers typically consume per cigarette has risen about 10 percent in the past six years, making it harder to quit and easier to get hooked, according to a new report released by the Massachusetts Department of Health.
The study shows a steady climb in the amount of nicotine delivered to the lungs of smokers regardless of brand, with overall nicotine yields increasing by about 10 percent.

They lied to us about the health effects (on more than one occasion), violated racketeering laws and are increasing the level of the addictive substance while telling us in advertising not to smoke. Do you think that they're smart enough to know that no matter how much they tell people to stop, the cigarette companies are smart enough to know that we can't? I think so.

What other company produces ads to tell consumers not to use its product?

If any other consumer product demonstrated the negative health effects that cigarettes do, they would be banned by the Food and Drug Administration. They had a harder time selling Pop Rocks and Jolt Cola than they do cigarettes.

Here's the answer: Starting tomorrow, ban the sale of cigarettes in all 50 states. Force people to stop smoking. They know its bad and we know it, so let's stop teh advertising, the new laws, the wasted money on medical research and the wasted money in health care.

Gradually, it is becoming more difficult to smoke in public. They can't smoke inside, they can't smoke at work - there have even been half-hearted attempts to ban smoking in automobiles. Soon, smokers will have to carry around a little plastic helmet so that they can inhale their own second-hand smoke. Soon, the only place smokers will be allowed to smoke is in their home - just like sodomy.

If it is killing us, and everyone knows it is killing us, why are we still allowed to consume them? What makes the cigarette companies different than the drug companies, who would have to take a deadly drug off the market - and the drugs they ban actually help some people. All cigarettes do is kill the user and annoy the people around the user. A perfectly useless product to everyone but the manufacturer.

It just bothers me, is all.