Tobacco.org

LETTER: Gilding the tobacco leaf  

George Will’s penchant for elegant but deceptive prose was evident in his June 18 essay on the newly passed Federal tobacco product legislation . . .

In the following paragraph Will asserts that, “Government policy regarding tobacco ... has been, on balance, a success.” Tell that to the people you know who have lost loved ones to a smoking-related disease or who themselves suffer from tobacco-related emphysema, heart disease or cancer.

Curiously, as the text continues below the fold in the page Will starts telling the truth: “Smoking is addictive ... sickening, often fatal ... Ninety percent of all smokers start by age 18; few start after 21. But death and intelligence cost the companies 6,000 customers a day, so that many new smokers must be made daily just to keep up.”

And that’s where the Food and Drug Administration, our nation, and indeed the entire world urgently need to focus: on deterring the cigarette companies from promoting addiction to their products among today’s and tomorrow’s vulnerable teenagers.

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