tobacco executive admits that he thinks smoking is dangerous
Originally written 03.14.2002
Came across this article which describes how
From the article:
THE head of Britain’s biggest cigarette company has made an unprecedented admission that smoking is bad for you and that people are “better off” avoiding tobacco.
The comment by Martin Broughton, the executive chairman of British American Tobacco, the second biggest cigarette-maker in the world, is the clearest warning yet wrung from a tobacco chief.
Here is my response:
This is a good example of the sort of argument that many anti-tobacco-insdustry-regulation types make. The argument is that, granted, tobacco poses some serious health risks, but that people are aware of these risks and should be allowed to make a choice to assume those risks.
This argument is flawed for a number of reasons and these reasons make Mr. Broughton, who aknowledges the danger of the products his company produces, yet still continues to make them available to the public, a hypocrite. The problem with what I’ll call the “live and let die” argument is that in some cases, people affected by tobacco use don’t have any choice in the matter. Second-hand smoke has been shown to be very harmful (if I’m not mistaken, more harmful than primary smoke), particularly for young children. In particular, the dangers of pre-natal smoking are well documented. While I would argree that individuals are ultimately responsible for actions which affect themselves, the tobacco industry, including Mr. Broughton are in some part (and I would argue a large part) responsible for the overall social cost of tobacco use.
The second flaw with the “live and let die” argument is that while it is true that in these times, most people are aware of the health risks of tobacco use, most people do not fully grasp how addictive products with nicotine can be. I would argue that many first time smokers, while acknowledging the health risks of their new found habit, think that they will be able to quit easily in the future and avoid the health risks. As one soon finds after speaking with a hardcore smoker, quitting is typically very difficult, and for some individuals, nearly impossible. So, while the weight of medical knowledge has made it impossible for the tobacco industry to under state the harm of tobacco use, I feel strongly that the industry still deceives consumers by understating the addictive properties of nicotine.
Still, despite the hypocrisy of the statements described above, I think that such statements are positive in the sense that they are a first step in aknowledging the danger that the tobacco industry poses to the public. One can only hope that, in the future, tobacco industry executives will not only make statements about tobacco and health, but will instead make the genuinely ethical decision to steer their companies away from the business of dealing death.
A quick note. I find it somewhat interesting that the statement was made by an exec. from a Brittish tobacco company. I’m studying in Scotland right now, and the smoking culture is so different here (and I imagine the rest of Brittain) than it is in the states. I don’t have any hard stats, but from observation, the number of smokers seems far higher, and the moratorium against smoking in public areas that exists in the US is unheard of here. Furthermore, the age to purchase tobacco in Scotland is 16 instead of 18. I suspect that even as anti-tobacco sentiment continues to grow in the US, rather than make the ethical choice to cease producing such dangerous products, tobacco companies will simply shift their efforts to other markets such as Europe and Asia where it seems the health risks associated with smoking are ignored.