William Atkins
Thursday, 04 June 2009 19:21
Opinion and Analysis
Page 2 of 4
The tobacco industry sells a product. It is no different from any other industry in that they sell either a product or a service, or both. And, to keep their jobs these business persons have to sell a lot of their product.
In the case of the tobacco industry they must sell a lot of cigarettes and other tobacco-related products.
However, one difference is apparent in the tobacco industry. Their product (tobacco) kills people when used properly and as intended.
If your child plays with a properly made toy as it is intended to be played with, it does not kill or injure. For an adult, a car does not kill or injure you when driven properly under the rules of the road (assuming others also drive their cars in similar safe ways).
However, its driver may cause the car to run across the middle of the road and cause an accident, but a car is not intended to be driven in such a way and it is not built to kill or injure its driver or occupants by the nature of its use.
However, cigarettes will prematurely kill you by simply using them. That is a medical fact. It takes years off a life and, in addition, reduces an otherwise healthy life to one that is full of lung cancer, emphysema, and other ailments.
Advertisers can make even a pig with lipstick look attractive, so the tobacco advertisers have for years successfully advertised their products as the in thing to do, making regular folks look like adventure stars, cowboys, and other exciting characters of fact and fiction.
Page three provides comments from organizations on the dangers of cigarettes.
