by Patrick Sills

Created on: July 07, 2008   Last Updated: December 22, 2011

Smokers are fully aware of the reported health risks associated with the practice of smoking. How could they not be? They are in fact bombarded with warnings on a daily basis, and it's been going on for nearly 50 years.

Since the mid-1960's, cigarette packages have been required to place warnings of the possible consequences of smoking. Over the years, the wording has changed somewhat, but the message is still more or less the same: If you smoke, you are putting yourself at risk for health complications. Fair enough. Just as a half-century ago, people today still chose to smoke, albeit in smaller numbers. But those who do are willing gamblers.

For this reason, it is absolutely appalling that the tobacco companies were viciously attacked by the US government and threatened with bankruptcy as soon as Bill Clinton assumed the Presidency. The notion that the companies deliberately "spiked" their products with added nicotine to keep customers addicted is idiotic. When the executives who were subpoenaed before Congress tried to explain that during the manufacturing process, nicotine is removed and then added back (along with some preservatives) to develop a particular brand's flavor, they were dismissed as diabolical liars.

The fact is that unless you buy totally organic food, everything you get at the grocery store or in restaurants has added preservatives as well, and very few have a problem with that. As soon as it was revealed that the tobacco companies processed their products in similar fashion, they were labeled as evil. This is a bit hypocritical to say the least.

Even when this took place during the early 1990's, smokers had already been exposed to the warnings for nearly 30 years. Next, biased, corrupt science was deliberately employed to proclaim that smokers harm not only themselves, but also those around them. The general public has fallen for this without question. The average nonsmoker will passively "smoke" perhaps 5 cigarettes a year. A heavy smoker will accomplish that before breakfast each morning, and it will still take over 50 years for him/her to develop about 1 chance in 11 of getting lung cancer. This is precisely why the hype surrounding "secondhand smoke" is fraudulent. In fact, a full-scale investigation of this unsound science should be implemented, for the basic rights of not only 60 million smokers in this country are at stake, but also those of business owners forced to ban smoking.

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