[ Post a Response | The Sublime Desire of Cigarette Smoking ]
Posted by M G F on June 21, 2009, 3:18 pm, in reply to "Re: So what is it....a drug or a medical device?"
I believe your hunch is dead on correct. That the bill would be passed was inevitable. It allows politicians to take a "Strong Stand" against smoking without substantive consequences. One somewhat perverse thought that has occurred to me is that if cigarette manufacturers begin reformulating tobacco blends to remove additives, they may well find that the result are cigarettes with significantly higher tar and nicotine content. When I was in Grad school, Marcus agreed to participate in a public health class project and smoked a pipe for a semester and keep track of how much he smoked. The tobacco blend he used was totally additive free, and when I ran the numbers at the end of the project, I discovered that he had been smoking the equivalent of 3.5 packs of Marlboro Reds a day. My project conclusion was that a campaign to get cigarette smokers to switch to pipes wouldn't have a positive effect on smokers health.
Using graphic warnings on cigarette packs is a nice, dramatic way of having no effect whatsoever. Every smoker has seen the images and knows what might lurk below her breast. Yet, we continue to smoke. Putting a picture of rotten lungs on a pack of cigarettes will only result in a greater sense of defiance, heighten the sense of taking the Risk, and, perhaps, lead to renewed popularity of cigarette cases.
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