Posted on 06/04/2003 7:05:08 PM PDT by Mister Magoo
'Ban all tobacco' - US health chief
Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles Thursday June 5, 2003 The Guardian
The surgeon general of the United States, Richard Carmona, has said he would support the abolition of cigarettes and all tobacco products, the first time that such a senior public health official has taken that kind of stand over the industry. Dr Carmona's statement was welcomed yesterday by anti-smoking organisations and condemned by the tobacco industry. The Bush administration, which enjoys the support and financial backing of the tobacco industry, yesterday distanced itself from the abolition position.
The US already has some of the toughest anti-smoking legislation in the world. California has led the way. Last year it banned smoking in all areas next to playgrounds or "tot lot" areas. Similar measures are being considered nationwide.
The state, which has banned smoking in public buildings, bars and restaurants, is also considering a ban in some blocks of flats. Delaware has a similar ban. Connecticut will impose one from next April, and this week Maine moved towards a ban. New York has banned smoking in bars and restaurants.
Ordinances framed also by local councils curtailing cigarette smoking are introduced almost weekly. Santa Monica recently made it an offence, punishable by a £160 fine, to dispose of "smoking-related waste" in a public park.
There have, however, been few suggestions that tobacco should be banned altogether.
Dr Carmona made his controversial remarks while giving evidence to energy and commerce sub-committee hearings at Congress on smoking products that supposedly reduce the risk of cancer. He was asked if he would support the abolition of "all tobacco products". He said: "I would at this point, yes."
He said that he was not a legislator but that he would "support banning or abolishing tobacco products ". He saw "no need for any tobacco products in society".
One of the country's leading anti-smoking campaigners, Jeffrey Wigand, the head of Smokefree Kids, said: "I applaud him. I hope that stirs people up to do something. This would set a tremendous precedent and would have a major effect on world health."
Mr Wigand, a tobacco industry whistleblower who was portrayed by the actor Russell Crowe in the film The Insider, said it was notable that such a senior public health official was so outspoken. "There are 460,000 deaths directly attributable to tobacco in the United States every year," said Mr Wigand. "The World Health Organisation estimates that by 2015 tobacco will be killing more than 10 million a year."
He said that the US, as the leading exporter of tobacco, had a particular responsibility to regulate tobacco use.
But Dr Carmona's remarks are unlikely to lead to any radical moves by the administration. The tobacco industry is a longtime supporter of the Republican party and there have been objections by conservative and libertarian commentators to the restaurant and bar smoking bans.
The White House yesterday said that Dr Carmona's remarks represented his views as a doctor, not those of the administration, whose main focus was discouraging young people from smoking. About 45 million Americans smoke, in a population of 280 million.
Tobacco companies have changed their strategies on the issue of regulation. Philip Morris, the country's biggest tobacco company, is running adverts urging teenagers to "think, don't smoke". They argue that their products are aimed at adults and the issue is one of freedom of choice.
Cigarettes in films is the subject of one of the latest anti-smoking campaigns; the public has been urged to complain by writing to actors who smoke on screen. Tobacco firms have denied that they paid for actors to use their products in films.
As a side note, maybe I should start a tobacco business.........worked for Joe Kennedy.
...create a new black market, more gang violence, higher crime rates, more illicit sales with no taxation....
Has anyone learned ANYTHING from the Prohibition Era or the current War on Drugs????
Law Enforcement and the political hacks that they answer to have learned quite a bit. They know that this would be one more thing that they can pull you over for on the road, use to get a no-knock search warrant so your front door can be kicked in and then confiscate your property. It's not about public health... it's not about saving medicare...and no, it's not even "for the children." It's about money and control.
One thing you can be sure of -- if the blood is flowing up to one's knees in the inner cities thanks to the War on Drugs, there will be blood flowing up to your eyes everywhere once the War on Tobacco gets established. This will make Prohibition seem like a Sunday school picnic and the War on Drugs just a rowdy footbal game by comparison. Terrorists will get so much illegal tobacco money they won't know what to do with it all -- they will buy some pretty sophisticated nukes with the money. Some "conservative" moralistic busy-bodies and liberal health Nazis will tear the Constitution in half and smoke it.
Just what we need--another huge bureaucracy fighting another war on some substance. This one will be particularly onerous, since the use of tobacco has been so popular for so many years.
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