Murder, Inc.

[From Reuters.com]

440,000 Deaths per Year By Jason Szep

BOSTON, Jan 18 (Reuters) - The amount of nicotine that smokers typically inhale per cigarette rose by 11 percent from 1998 to 2005, perpetuating a "tobacco pandemic" that makes it harder for smokers to quit, a Harvard study said on Thursday.………..

"Cigarettes are finely tuned drug delivery devices designed to perpetuate a tobacco pandemic," said Howard Koh, the school's associate dean for public health practice and former Massachusetts commissioner of public health. ………….

"The end result is a product that is potentially more addictive," the study said. ………….

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers cigarette smoking the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. About 440,000 people die each year from lung cancer and other diseases related to tobacco use.

Whole story at: http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=&storyid=2007-01-18T050109Z_01_N17368249_RTRIDST_0_NICOTINE-STUDY-EMBARGOED.XML&src=nl_usbeforethebell

What’s to be said? Many of us are kind of pissed at George W. for causing 3000+ U.S. military deaths. What should we think about the tobacco companies? 440,000 deaths per year? For what cause? Corporate profits… holy ground I suppose. Especially to politicians who receive campaign bucks and lots of lobbyist attention from tobacco companies, directly and indirectly. http://www.con-suming.com/Tobacco/actions_against_politicians.htm

My 22-year-old son is quitting the coffin nails. On Stage Two of “the patch.” Even with that help, it’s still one of the hardest things to do in life. Just after giving up food.

Two of my best friends are dead. One at 34 (heart) and the other at 69 (lung cancer). Both were smokers. The Tobacco War is on all our doorsteps, knock-knock-knocking.

Should our government step in on its citizens' behalf? Geeez… tough question.