Cool, Refreshing Legislation for Philip Morris
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Cool, Refreshing Legislation for Philip Morris
Why it’s politically impossible to ban menthol cigarettes, even if they’re the most addictive.
By Paul Smalera
Posted Monday, June 8, 2009 - 2:56pm
Matthew Myers, the Campaign For Tobacco-Free Kids' director, continues to play the fool. He told ABC News, "Our hope is that the Senate HELP committee will resist all of those efforts to weaken the legislation." It's hard to even understand what Myers means—the doublespeak surrounding the bill is so great its passage will surely be hailed as a victory for anti-tobacco forces. And if Congress could find a way to make the bill any weaker, even the Marlboro Man himself couldn't help but crack a smile.
Graphic by bamby/Shutterstock.
Graphic by bamby/Shutterstock.
Comments
Its amazing!
I think its crazy that these companies can get away with murder. Hundreads of thousands of people die each year to smoking related causes. I have a instruments acoustic guitars website and if my product started killing people imagine how long I would be in business. This is scary, just because these companies have people in Washington that protect their intrests they can get away with this. This is truly amazing!
FDA abuses power
Unfortunately, the FDA is starting to interfere with the rights of Americans by abusing their power. There becomes a point where the FDA stops advising Americans (As is its role) and starts withholding their rights. A perfect example of this is their attempt to ban the electronic cigarette, even though they have the potential to save millions of lives. The FDA feels its within their power to take a product off the market that has thousands less chemicals than traditional cigarettes. Is this not an abuse of power? Informing people of the health ramifications of products is well within reason, removing a product that could save their life is not.
Johnny Blaze
If 80% of all African-American smokers smoke menthol...
then I suppose that there's an 80% chance of a menthol preference for a certain African-American in the Oval Office. That would certainly be a rather, um, large obstacle.
the Philip Morris Aid Bill
Kudos to Paul Smalera. A beautiful and accurate picture of this fraudulent legislation--of, by, and for Philip Morris--which stands a good chance of increasing cigarette-caused deaths in the US. The bill has just been passed by Congress. The next step must be to convince the President not to sign it. That effort can be made by e-mails to his web page, by public statements such as editorials and public letters, and by other means that will occur to inventive readers of Slate. Readers in touch with ongoing efforts to replace this bill by genuine anti-smoking legislation ought to inform the rest of us of their work; we need to join in their efforts. The Senators who voted against this bill ought to speak out. In case the President signs the bill we need a creative and organized strategy to undo it and replace it by legislation that will truly cut into the death toll. The first step ought to be the immediate legalization of electronic cigarettes. They resemble cigarettes in delivering nicotine, but differ from them in delivering no tobacco tars whatever--the cause of the deaths. They resemble the entirely legal nicotine patches and gum in delivering nicotine, but differ from them in mimicking the effect of cigarettes. It is surely no coincidence that the bill seeks to ban the one cigarette replacement that has a chance of large-scale success. Make no mistake. This is a bill that will cost lives. If you have lost a good friend or relative to cigarettes, isn't it worth it to make an effort--in their name--to fight back? I am posting my actual name and email address as a step in encouraging opponents of the Philip Morris Aid Bill to come together and organize. Stephen Voss shvoss@gmail.com