Placing the Blame
A Position paper by Elise Barrus
Cigarettes Are Addictive & Dangerous
Nicotine creates pleasant feelings in smokers. If nicotine is absent from an addicted body for too long, smokers report feeling anxious and irritable. The addiction to nicotine oftentimes occurs within the first puff, especially in adolescents (“Questions”). Having an addiction to cigarettes can cause cancer and other health problems and is the leading cause of death in the United States. More than 440,000 American deaths are a yearly result of cigarette smoking (CDC). The danger of cigarettes wouldn’t be an issue if it weren’t for the addiction factor as many people could start and quit at their leisure. While many people like to engage in dangerous activity once in a while, they don’t always plan on becoming chained to the danger. The addiction factor and the health risks of cigarettes are two of the reasons many people think that the government should exercise more control over the tobacco industry. It is true that the government should protect us, and therefore it needs to have some control over products. But the government doesn’t have a right or a responsibility to keep heavily regulating every harmful thing Americans come in contact with; each of us is expected to use self control and common sense. Furthermore, the tobacco companies, like the government, should not be placed with the burden of helping people quit or with convincing people to refrain from their legal product.
We Have Been Warned
Those who insist that government needs to further control tobacco argue that people do not comprehend the addiction danger of tobacco,
and therefore claim that the government needs to continue to regulate the product. In the early days of tobacco this would have been a valid argument as people were not aware of any risks associated with tobacco use. Today, however, the risks of tobacco use are clearly published on all cigarette packs in America, on billboards, in magazines, and even on buses. In fact, the tobacco industry itself warns people that nicotine is addictive and harmful. On Philip Morris’s website, the following statement is made:
"PM USA agrees with the overwhelming medical and scientific consensus that cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema and other serious diseases in smokers. Smokers are far more likely to develop serious diseases, like lung cancer, than non-smokers. There is no safe cigarette" (Philip Morris USA).
The company also states that it agrees with the “consensus that cigarette smoking is addictive.” While smoking has been proven to be addictive, it’s not impossible to quit. In fact, over one million Americans do it every year (“Health”). People who are serious about quitting need not wait until the government forces it upon them.
Surgeon General’s Warning
People have been aware of the ill effects of smoking as early as 1965 when Congress passed the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act. This act required a warning label to be printed on cigarette packs (Mollenkamp, Levy et al. 250). Today, it would be difficult to find anyone in the United States who wasn’t aware of the risks of cigarette smoking. The warnings are clear and they are everywhere, yet people still smoke. Government cannot, and should not try to, prevent certain people from making a personal decision to smoke, especially if they 
desire to do so.
The Good the Government Has Done
The government has done it’s job to try and protect the innocent by enforcing certain laws that prevent teens from gaining access to cigarettes. It has also passed laws that protect those who do not smoke.
Smoking Age Requirement
Supporters of government control argue, indeed correctly, that while minors may be aware of the dangers of cigarette smoking, many tend not to think about the consequences of their actions, especially when those consequences could be years down the road. Only 5% of high school seniors who smoke think they’ll still be smoking in five years, when actually 75% of them end up keeping the habit (Romero E1). Considering the fact that most minors don’t have the development or the maturity to make life changing decisions, it’s important for the government to establish laws to protect minors from themselves. The age law discourages many underage people from even attempting to get cigarettes. It also alerts parents to the dangers of cigarettes to minors so that they can do what’s necessary to protect their children.
But while teens may have trouble being realistic about future consequences, it is important to remember that it is obviously not outside of their ability to make proper choices and to obey the law; many teens resist the temptation every day. Also, much of the responsibility to prevent teen smoking lies within parents.
Clean Air Act
Another valid argument that critics bring up is the government’s responsibility to protect the innocent. Laws like the Clean Air Act, which prohibits smoking within 25’ of building entrances, and also inside buildings, are essential in protecting the innocent. Secondhand smoke causes over 49,000 deaths per year (American Cancer Society). These people die as a result of other people’s choice to smoke. Already 24 states have adopted clean air acts that prohibit smoking in public places or in buildings.
While the above arguments are very valid and carry significant weight, they should not be taken to extreme. The control that the government has issued to help protect the innocent is important, but it should not go overboard in trying to force people to refrain from cigarettes. Those who would argue otherwise would do well to look back into history at what prohibition did for us. In the 1920’s, the consumption and sale of alcohol was prohibited. The government did this in an attempt to reduce crime, domestic abuse, and health problems in America. Instead of helping, it created more problems. Organized crime increased, alcohol consumption increased, and many courts became corrupt (Cato Institute). Prohibition of alcohol clearly did not work and neither would the prohibition of cigarettes. When the government tries to control the choices of the American people it often backfires. People who are determined to smoke will smoke, just as people who are determined to do drugs will do drugs, regardless of the legality.
It is clear that the government has done enough in regards to tobacco education. It has done its part in protecting the innocent and informing people of the risks of smoking. This is all that should be required of the government.
Tobacco Company and Ethics
While critics of the tobacco industry blame it for using poor business tactics to try and get new smokers addicted, they fail to recognize that those tactics have stopped, and yet there are still millions of smokers in the United States, which would indicate that government control is not the answer.
Advertising
Companies like the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company have been accused of targeting teens with their Joe Camel ads (now banned). Philip Morris has been accused in the past of deceiving the public into believing that cigarettes are not addictive or dangerous. Critics use the examples of past behaviors to justify their argument of desired government control. But practices like inappropriate advertising tactics have long been banned by the government. Despite this ban, some people expect the government to continue to control the tobacco industry until tobacco has been banned completely. Not only will this not work (as we have seen from Prohibition), but it is also unethical. While the government did right in one sense by prohibiting tobacco companies from targeting teens, it did wrong by completely banning them. The tobacco company is a legitimate business and as such should have every right to advertise its product, within the ethical boundaries, which should include not targeting teens, and not falsely advertising their product to be safe, among other things.
The Rights of the Tobacco Companies
The government crossed the line a step further when it required the tobacco companies to advertise against themselves by developing ads to combat the product that they are legally allowed to sell. The government does not have a right to control legitimate businesses to the point that they are required to advertise against themselves. Furthermore, it is impractical and unethical to ban advertising for one dangerous product and not others. I’m not suggesting that the government start banning all dangerous products, however; for if the government started on the road of banning every potentially dangerous product, America would be left with no choices and, therefore, no freedoms. Instead of banning and heavily regulating products, why don’t we engage in self control?
McDonald’s & the Obesity Epidemic
An example of a potentially dangerous product can be seen by examining McDonald’s. However shocking the following information may be, it is not an argument to ban fast food. It simply shows the parrallels between two companies and the outrageous blame that people place on products. How long is it going to be before people start blaming McDonald’s for making them fat . . . or has the blame already begun?
It may come as a surprise to some that McDonald’s claims that they are dedicated to nutrition. They also make the claim that their food is healthy. On their website, McDonald’s professes to have a team of registered dieticians and trusted suppliers that will help people feel good about choosing to eat there.
Morgan Spurlock created a documentary titled, “Supersize Me.” He ate nothing but McDonald’s food every day for 20 days. After the experiment, Spurlock had gained not only weight, but dependence on the food, depression, an increase in cholesterol, twitches, and even liver erosion (Weisberg).
McDonald’s advertisements don’t just appeal to adults as the quick, easy, and cheap way to eat; they mainly appeal to children. McDonald’s has play centers in many of their restaurants, they use a clown as their mascot, and they offer toys as an incentive to buy “Happy Meals.” If children start eating unhealthy at a young age it’s likely they’ll keep up the habit into adulthood. This means more customers for the fast food chains and potentially more people dying of obesity and health complications.
Obesity is the second highest cause of death in America, killing around 300,000 people a year (Carmona). It’s no secret that fast food is a major cause of obesity in America. As the success of fast food chains raises so does obesity (Schlosser). Yet advertisements to entice people to indulge in a product that is killing Americans is permitted for one industry and outlawed for another.
Is it ok that as a society we blame companies for selling a product that is legal? We know that cigarettes are dangerous and addictive, but we accept that they are legal for adults, just like many other potentially dangerous products. Why do we point fingers at an industry for doing a good job of selling a product in which we are willingly indulging? The fact is, many people are aware that fast food is unhealthy. There have been numerous studies done that make this claim. But instead of making changes in lifestyle, many people turn the blame on the industry, which, in the end, will get us nowhere.
Personal Choice
Is it the government’s responsibility to convince people to quit smoking, or would that be crossing the line of protecting to controlling? Some think that government should continue to combat smoking because of the dangers of it, despite all that it has done already. It is my belief that people make these claims because it is easier to point fingers than to change our own behaviors. The problem is that many of us don’t want to have to take responsibility for ourselves and our actions. We don’t like to admit that we don’t have the power of refrain. But until we do take responsibility for our own actions little will change, no matter how much, or how little, government control there is over products and companies.
A new law was recently passed in June of 2011. The FDA selected nine graphic photos to be placed on the top of the cigarette packages. The government is confident that it will encourage thousands of smokers to quit (Wilson, B1), but should government be pushing its fear tactics on people? I say no. Smoking, like eating fast food, is a matter of individual freedom and choice. Moreover, smoking is a freedom that many smokers enjoy. Around 30% of smokers don’t want to quit (CDC). Qasim Mehdi, a smoker, said,
"Everyone today is aware of the ill-effects of smoking. Printing a picture or issuing a statutory warning on packets won’t deter a smoker. I am a chain smoker and know how bad it’s for my health. Still I smoke about 15 cigarettes a day. Unless there’s a strong motivation, I don’t think a message on a cigarette pack can help me overcome my addiction” (Khanna).
Solution
Banning Smoking is Not the Answer
Some think that banning smoking is the answer, but making a product more forbidden will not cause people to stop using it. Trying to scare people out of using tobacco is not the answer either. Drugs are illegal and the dangers of using them have been seen all over the media. Unfortunately, knowing of the dangers of tobacco and drug use isn’t enough to deter some people, especially youth, to do what they are curious about or pressured to do. Spencer Wolf, a 17-year-old smoker said,
"Smoking is cool. I saw everyone else smoking and that’s when I started smoking a pack a day. I won’t stop. Others won’t either. There’s no advertisements for drugs and no Joe Camel for drugs, and a lot of people do drugs" (Mollenkamp, Levy et al., 11).
Stricter Enforcement
Working to prevent minors from gaining access to smoking is imperative since around 80% of today’s smokers in the United States started smoking before their 18th birthday (CDC). Once the damage to health sets in, often years down the road, people realize that their curiosity and desire to fit in was not worth having to pay the price of addiction. They realize that they never should have started in the first place.
More efforts need to be spent on preventing the sale of cigarettes to minors. Many store clerks simply ask for a birth date without even checking ID. Unfortunately even this will not stop minors from getting cigarettes.
Society
Our society has elevated cigarette smoking to be the cool, forbidden act that cannot be done by anyone except adults. According the media, smoking makes you look and feel older than you are, and for an adolescent, that’s exactly what they want to feel. Movies and media portray beautiful and young people smoking as a socially accepted activity, and even show minors smoking to rebel. Many gorgeous celebrities are willingly and intentionally photographed smoking.
Society’s view on what is acceptable and what is liked causes conflict within many people. On one hand we have the government warning us of the dangers of smoking, and on the other, we have society elevating smoking to be the sexy, rebellious, and cool thing to do. Smoking is not the only thing that society has elevated. Fashion magazines are known to use gorgeous and far too thin models in their ads. Viewing this material causes depression and eating disorders among some people (De Sousa), as many people see anorexia as the price to pay to be acceptable in society. Thousands die each year due to eating disorder related illnesses. As long as society elevates trends, they will survive, and the government, with all its efforts, cannot prevent that, nor should it try. Trying to undo what society is doing would be counterproductive as people would much prefer to listen to the influence of society and celebrities than the influence of the government.
Parent Responsibility
Parents should take responsibility for their own choices and for monitoring their children. Parents can reduce the risks to their children by not smoking in their homes or cars.
Children who have mothers who smoke are three times more likely to start smoking than those who don’t have mothers who smoke, according to a study done by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (1). Some are reluctant to blame parents because, they claim, tobacco companies are the ones who got the parents addicted. As stated earlier, people are not unable to control their choices. Parents should have the strength to do whatever is necessary to stop smoking if they are putting their children at risk, and if they make the choice not to, society, the government, nor the tobacco companies are to blame.
Taking Responsibility for Our Choices
In 2003 a case was brought against McDonald’s for making people obese. The federal judge threw it out (Wald). Blaming others for our own actions is not the solution. As a society, we cannot keep blaming the products that we so willingly indulge in for our problems. Whose fault is it that so many Americans die from obesity? There are advertisements for fast food all over the place. But only some of us eat fast food, and only some of us are obese. Only some of us smoke, drink alcohol excessively, and eat too much. We have a choice and a responsibility for our own bodies and what we put in them.
Many have blamed the tobacco industry but it’s time we move past that as a society. There are many products that are potentially addictive and harmful. Not everyone indulges which proves that the ability to resist enticing advertising, peer pressure, and curiosity is within people’s reach. The warnings are clear enough so let’s take responsibility for ourselves.
Works Cited
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---OADC, “Tobacco Related Mortality”, 21 March 2011. Web. 7 July 2011.
---OADC, “Tobacco Use”, 22 Feb 2011. Web. 23 June 2011
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Mollenkamp, Levy, et al. The People VS. Big Tobacco. Princeton: Bloomberg L.P. , 1998. Print.
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Romero, James. "The First Puff." LA Times 18 Sept. 1996. E1+. Print.
Schlosser, Eric. CBSNews.com “Americans Are Obsessed with Fast Food: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal” 11 February 2009. Web. 30 June 2011.
Thornton, Mark. Cato Institute. Policy Analysis 17 July 1991. Web. 31 July 2011 Path: cato.org
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Weisberg, Sam. The Raw Story. “Supersize Me”, 2004. Web. 4 July 2011.
Wilson, Duff. "U.S. Releases Graphic Images to Deter Smokers." New York Times, 21 June 2011 B1. Print.
Worsnop, Richard L. "Teen Smoking and Advertising: An Overview." Wekesser, Carol. Smoking. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1997. 114-118.
