Word: tobacco
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...real battleground of smoking is the youth market. This is where attorneys general should be concentrating their forces. Considering that only over-21 adults can buy tobacco, we can fairly conclude that there should be no youth market for cigarettes at all. Yet although the number of smokers overall in the U.S. is declining, the number of teenage smokers is increasing. Cigarette manufacturers insist that youth are not their target. However, Liggett admitted in the agreement that they did, in fact, target youth. In this admission lies the real victory. "For 30 years the tobacco industry has said to anyone...
...been unaware of the increase in under-age smokers lighting up, nor has it been silent in response. The FDA cracked down on cigarette billboards near schools and on cigarette ads in magazines with youth readerships. But there is only so much a single agency can do against tobacco companies that have a total advertising budget of $5 billion. If the states joined the battle, tobacco companies could be shut out of the youth market de facto, as they already are de jure...
Government regulators, forced to pay through Medicaid for the treatment of myriad cases of emphysema and lung cancer, have launched their own assault against tobacco companies. Yet they have been unable to win in a court of law, despite revelations of the addictive properties of nicotine. Tobacco companies have never paid a cent for health problems incurred by smoking. Fortunately, now that the Liggett agreement will unearth older documents, the states may have more fire-power. But what will be the end to this war? Will states be happy with the destruction of Philip Morris, which has 48 percent...
Another cause may lie in historical forces. Tobacco and the U.S. have gone hand-in-hand from the beginning of our nation's history. In 1617, those settlers in Jamestown sent off the first shipment of tobacco to England. Although the use of tobacco went against their strict religious principles, the settlers were not puritanical enough to shun the high price the tobacco brought. The repercussions of their decision are still being felt today. By deciding to quell any moral qualms in favor of the profit margin, those tobacco farmers founded a tradition of disavowing any moral obligations that present...
...lack of moral obligation is not restricted to tobacco companies. Companies which in recent years have focused on making sunscreens now realize that teens don't care about potential sun damage. This year they are marketing new suntan oils and lotions without sunscreen. Twenty years later we may start to see lawsuits from the tanned teens of today who foresee skin cancer in the forecast of tomorrow. That is the danger, unless, of course, the country looks ahead to protect its future...