Tobacco

Note: Before reading My Thoughts, please read My Disclaimer!

Tobacco companies produce products that they know will kill consumers -- 1,200 per day, on average. (That's one out of every five deaths in the U. S.) Every tobacco company employee with a detectable I.Q. knows that their products are addictive poison. The class action settlement made their internal memos public and those documents show their knowledge. Yet, in public, they continue to make intentionally misleading statements about the addictions and deaths they cause.

The people who work for those companies (and those that grow the crops) are among the most unethical people the world has ever known. I think all the executives, managers, and other employees of a tobacco company combined are less ethical than the worst of those at Enron. After all, those at Enron (as evil as they are) only stole people's money. The tobacco companies' employees take their customers' money and kill them in the process.

Tobacco company employees spend all day strategizing how to addict children to their poison to ensure they'll have customers for their deadly products. It's their chosen profession and they work hard to get better at it. They target high school aged kids because they know that 80% of adult smokers were hooked before age 18. The legal settlements against these companies are not enough. These tobacco company executives and managers should be charged with and found guilty of premeditated murder, since they have conspired for years to kill people for their own financial gain.

Apart from those thoughts on the tobacco industry, I feel really bad for those who smoke. I have close friends and relatives who smoke, and it pains me to know that they will almost definitely die sooner because of it. Many of those who smoke were lured into nicotine addiction before science was able to prove that smoking kills. Almost everyone finds it very difficult to break the addiction they acquired in their teens, when we all make questionable choices.

There are many types of programs available to help people quit. I sincerely hope they can find one that works for them. No matter how difficult quitting can be, it has to be better than dying of emphysema -- a slow death by suffocation.

If you are going to smoke, though, then please do it away from people who choose not to. Second-hand smoke kills, too - more than 50,000 people in the U.S. each year. Just as I wouldn't want to be near you if you were holding radioactive materials (for obvious reasons), I don't want to be around you while you are smoking. You do not have a right to smoke anywhere you want, just like you don't have the right to shoot a gun wherever and whenever you please. The reason is the same: it is dangerous to those around you.

Also, when smoking, please don't litter the planet with your cigarette butts. Most building entrances and almost every car has an ashtray. Please use them. Why do many smokers toss cigarettes out of their car windows into the street and onto sidewalks, expecting someone else to clean up after them?! If cleaning out ashtrays is disgusting, then think about what you are doing to your lungs!

If you want to do something to try to help, then boycott the tobacco companies, including all the products they produce.  (You'll be very surprised at many of the products that are produced by tobacco companies!) If you'd like to promote the truth about tobacco on your web site, you can easily include the Crazy World rotating fact banner ad I made on your web site. Just download three files (1, 2, 3) and include ("<!-- #include file="thetruth.inc" -->") the appropriate file. (At present, the banner requires ASP. If your web server does not support ASP, let me know and I'll create a JavaScript version.)

Here's a list of all of the tobacco facts displayed by the banner:

Death Toll

• Tobacco kills more people than AIDS, murder, suicides, fires, auto accidents, alcohol and illegal drugs COMBINED.

• About 1 out of every 5 deaths in the U.S. can be attributed to tobacco products.

• Tobacco products cause nearly 1 out of 5 deaths in the U.S.
  Can you name another legal product that gets away with that?

• Cigarette smoking is the #1 cause of preventable deaths in the U.S.

• Cigarettes and other smoking materials are the #1 cause of fire deaths in the U.S.

• Maternal smoking during pregnancy and exposure to second-hand smoke in infancy doubles the risk of SIDS.

• Every three years, tobacco products kill more Americans than have died in all the wars we've ever fought COMBINED.

• Since 1964, there have been 12 million tobacco-related deaths in the U.S.

• Worldwide, tobacco is projected to kill about 10 million people a year By the year 2020.

• Worldwide, tobacco products kill about 4.9 million people a year.

• Tobacco companies make a product that kills 440,000 Americans a year.

• Every year, tobacco-related disease kills over 178,000 women.

• Second-hand cigarette smoke kills about 50,000 Americans a year.

• Every year, cigarettes leave about 31,000 kids fatherless.

• Every year, cigarettes leave about 12,000 kids motherless.

• Smoking during pregnancy results in the deaths of about 900 infants every year in the U.S.

• Tobacco products kill enough people to fill Yankee stadium every 2 1/2 months.

• Tobacco companies make products that kill 1,200 Americans a day.

• Flags are flown at half-mast after a tragedy. Since tobacco companies' products kill 1200 people a day, why don't they lower their flags?

• Because of the tobacco industry's products, about 340 people in the U.S. die of lung cancer every day.

• On its web site, one tobacco company lists "cancer services" as one of the community programs they support. Yet they continue to make a product that leads to about 340 deaths from lung cancer each day.

• Tobacco companies make a product that kills about 50 Americans each hour.

• Every 8 seconds, someone dies from using a tobacco product.

• Tobacco companies' products kill 36,000 people every month. That's more lives thrown away than there are public garbage cans in New York City.

• Tobacco kills over 20 times more people than murder.

Illnesses

• Hundreds of kids go to the hospital every year after eating tobacco products, but tobacco companies still don't use child-proof packaging.

• Smoking-related illness costs the U.S. an estimated $150 billion each year.

• In the U.S., smoking causes about 445 new cases of lung cancer every day.

• There are 8.5 million people sick with diseases caused by smoking.

• Babies born to women who smoked during pregnancy are more likely to be underweight.

• Smoking can lead to cataracts, the #1 cause of vision loss in the world.

Marketing

• Tobacco companies spend $34 million per day on advertising. Per DAY.

• Tobacco companies fought for the right to advertise near schools and playgrounds.

• Tobacco companies place in-store advertising signage at a child's eye level.

• A tobacco company once gave $125,000 worth of food to charity and then spent over $21 million telling people about it. How sincere!

• "Problems with self-esteem," "Has menial, boring job," "Emotionally insecure," "Passive-aggressive," "Grooming not a strong priority," and "Lacks inner resources" are all categories tobacco companies have used to describe groups of potential customers.

• In 1974, a tobacco company explored targeting customers as young as 14.

• In 1985, a tobacco company considered reaching their "younger adult smokers" in candy stores.

• In 1989, a tobacco company considered selling its product from ice cream trucks that drive through neighborhoods.

• In 1989, a tobacco company's ideas for reaching minority customers included to "be seen as a friend," "build on black history," and "help them find jobs." But, they though that this support shouldn't be seen as "a big white company's tactic to sell to blacks."

• In 1990, a tobacco company put together a plan to stop coroners from listing tobacco as a cause of death on death certificates.

• According to company documents, a well-known tobacco company planned on boosting mid-1990s cigarette sales by specifically targeting homosexuals and homeless people, calling the plan "Project Sub-Culture Urban Marketing," also known as "Project S.C.U.M.".

• In 1999, one year after agreeing to stop billboard advertising, tobacco companies increased advertising spending by 33% in magazines with "significant youth readership".

• In 2001, tobacco companies spent about $11 billion marketing their products. That's about $1.5 billion more than the year before.

• One tobacco company supplied their product to be used in the G-rated film, The Muppet Movie.

Quotes

• A tobacco company executive once said, under oath, that he believed Gummi Bears were addictive like cigarettes.

• In a 1997 deposition, a tobacco industry "scientist" compared the addictiveness of cigarettes to M&Ms and jogging.

• In the past, a tobacco company has compared the addictiveness of cigarettes to television.

• In the past, a tobacco company has compared the addictiveness of cigarettes to coffee. How many people does coffee kill?

• In 1954, George Weissman, VP of major tobacco company Philip Morris, said that the cigarette industry would "stop business tomorrow" if it thought its product was harming smokers.

• A tobacco company document from 1963 states "We are then in the business of selling nicotine, an addictive drug."

• An August 1978 internal memo from a tobacco company executive stated "Very few consumers are aware of the effects of nicotine, i.e., its addictive nature and that nicotine is a poison."

• In 1984, one tobacco company referred to new customers as "replacement smokers".

• In 1985, one tobacco VP said in reference to smoking-related deaths, "People die in their beds. Therefore, should we ban sleep?"

• In 1990, a tobacco company lawyer stated, "If we admit that smoking is harmful to heavy smokers...might it not be argued that we have been willfully killing our customers?"

• On April 14, 1994, the head of a huge tobacco company swore to Congress and the American people that he did not believe nicotine was addictive. A company document from 1963 revealed, in fact, that his tobacco company did know nicotine was addictive.

• How do infants avoid secondhand smoke? In 1996, a tobacco company executive replied: "At some point they begin to crawl."

• In a 1996 advertisement, a tobacco company claimed second-hand smoke is less risky than drinking one to two glasses of whole milk a day.

• In 1997, the CEO of a tobacco company said that if it was shown that cigarettes are a cause of lung cancer, he would "shut it down instantly to get a better hold on things". That company now admits on their web site that very fact, but there's no shut down.

Cigarette Contents

• Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 chemical compounds.

• Cigarette smoke contains the radioactive isotope Polonium-210.

• Hydrogen cyanide has been used in prison executions. It's also in cigarette smoke.

• Hydrogen cyanide is in rat poison. It's also in cigarette smoke.

• Human urine contains urea. So do cigarettes.

• Cows release methane gas into the air...from you know where. Methane is also found in cigarette smoke.

• The impact of nicotine is amplified because tobacco companies add ammonia.

• One tobacco company secretly developed a strain of tobacco they named "Y1" that contained 50% more nicotine.

• A tobacco company document from 1961 titled "Partial List Of Compounds In Cigarette Smoke Also Identified As Carcinogens" shows 40 substances, including Arsenic, Benzene, n-Butyric Acid, Chrysene, Chromium, Cobalt, Diethylene glycol, Oleic acid, Pyrrole, and Xylene.

• In the 1970s, tobacco companies started making light cigarettes by putting tiny holes in the filters to let extra air mix with the smoke. They found they could get lower readings of toxic agents from government testing machines. But smokers lips and fingers cover the holes.

• In 1990, 72 million bottles of a popular mineral water were voluntarily recalled because of small traces of benzene. The smoke from one pack of unfiltered cigarettes has as much benzene as 169 bottles of the contaminated water.

• In 1989, millions of cases of imported fruit were banned after a small amount of cyanide was found in just two grapes. There's thirty-three times more cyanide in a single cigarette than was found in those two grapes.

• Sodium Hydroxide is a caustic chemical found in hair removal products...and also in cigarettes.

Other

• Unlike food and drug companies, tobacco companies are not required to include a list of ingredients on their package.

• In as little as two weeks, nicotine changes the brain's chemistry and addiction can begin.

• Over 80% of all adult smokers started smoking before they turned 18, the legal age to smoke.

• Tobacco companies make $480 million in PROFITS from sales to under-aged people every year.

• Every day, about 1,500 youth become daily smokers.

• Every day, about 3,900 youth ages 12-17 try a cigarette for the first time.

• 64% of high school smokers say they want to quit.

• Nicotine has been found in the breast milk of smokers.

• In New York, tobacco companies are forced to sell only "fire-safe" cigarettes. If it would help to save hundreds of lives every year, why don't tobacco companies sell only fire-safe cigarettes everywhere?

• A tobacco company document from 1987 titled "Brainstorming Session - Solutions To Problem" (of widespread reports of the dangers of second-hand smoke) include "11. Create a bigger monster (AIDS)" and "39. Infiltrate W.H.O." (World Health Organization).

• In 1993, the Supreme Court decided that an inmate could sue a prison claiming that exposure to his cellmate's second-hand smoke constituted cruel and unusual punishment.

• In 1993, a tobacco company executive thought it would be a good idea to have his employees mail "grassroots" complaints to airlines about their smoking bans, pretending to be regular customers.

• In 1995, a major tobacco company voluntarily recalled billions of its cigarettes -- not because their product kills 1,200 people per day -- but because these cigarettes could cause temporary "discomfort" like dizziness. Is dizzy worse than dead?