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Are cigarette taxes fair? No. Not only NO but NO WAY MAN! In some states they still call this a sin tax. Cigarettes are legal to buy and consume, just like Mountain Dew, Diet Coke, Cookies, Candy Bars and Dr. Pepper. Those who support the taxes use the 'mere' link of second hand smoke and direct smoke inhalation of cigarettes to serious health care problems in the U.S. Do we know what the food manufacturers are putting in every package of manufactured food we buy and consume three to nine times a day? Do we know that obesity is just as much of a serious health risk as smoking?

Over 60 million adults and 9 million children are obese in the U.S. alone. Obesity increases your risk for heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, stroke, osteoarthritis, gallbladder disease, sleep apnea, respiratory problems. Though the health risks are not limited to, the above diseases there are so many unknown variables with the stress levels and what your body releases due to the stress of being obese that are not known. Stress compounded with the obesity can be volatile emotionally and mentally. So not only are there physical health risks, but emotional and mental health risks become overwhelming to the child &/or teen and the viscous cycle of obesity becomes an epidemic.

According to a study of national costs attributed to both overweight (BMI 2529.9) and obesity (BMI greater than 30), medical expenses accounted for 9.1 percent of total U.S. medical expenditures in 1998 and may have reached as high as $78.5 billion ($92.6 billion in 2002 dollars) (Finkelstein, Fiebelkorn, and Wang, 2003). Approximately half of these costs were paid by Medicaid and Medicare. The primary data sets used to develop the spending estimates for this study included the 1998 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) and the 1996 and 1997 National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS). The data also included information about each person's health insurance status and sociodemographic characteristics. This does not include the ramifications of the mental and psychological costs, as well as the cost to production in most manufacturing settings. Nor the millions of dollars paid by private out of pocket costs, HMO's and PPO's that were not reported with this 9.1 percent.

Economic analysis concludes cigarettes and other tobacco products represent about 10% of ALL health care costs in America. Now let us look at what causes the other 81% of health care costs in America. The chemicals we eat in every packaged

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