Tobacco.org

LETTER: Let's not have business as usual on smoking 

The March 13 story "EPA Doesn't Follow Scientific Smog Advice" prompts me to write. Not only is this government as usual -- ignoring the best scientific advice -- but even at the modest ozone improvement in the ruling, an estimated "900 to 1,100 premature deaths a year" would be saved albeit at a cost of an estimated $8.8 billion a year.

In the same day's paper, I read that secondhand smoke in Pennsylvania alone causes over 2,000 premature deaths a year. By strictly banning smoking in all public places, at essentially no cost, twice as many premature deaths could be prevented. . . .

By banning smoking everywhere, hundreds of thousands of lives could be saved each year. Oh, but I forget. With the government and big business, it is always about the money and the mega-dollars that roll in to the political coffers as well as the billions government at many levels gets from taxing the product that would be lost if a ban were enacted.

Jump to full article »