Sustainability. Crop to consumer. Supporting farmers. Innovation.
Fighting tobacco trafficking.
You may think the above statements come from a farmer’s
market, or community supported agriculture group, but you would be wrong. All of these phrases appear on a Big Tobacco
company’s website. If that doesn’t
outrage you…wait…there’s more!
Harm reduction. Yep,
that’s right! Harm reduction. So, they’re admitting their products cause
harm. Isn’t it sweet of them to be
concerned about their customers? Tobacco kills 500,000 people each year in the United States, so ask yourself
how this could possibly be a sustainable business unless they are actively
recruiting new smokers?
It looks like the
makers of Pall Mall, Kent, and Lucky Strike think their current and future
customers are pretty stupid. Why
else would they use phrases like “crop to consumer” or “sustainability” to
describe a product that is known to kill the user? Don’t worry.
When they say sustainable, they mean sustainable PROFITS. Oh yeah, it’s all about the profit for the
shareholders as they say:
Sustainability
underpins our business, and for us it’s all about shared value – creating value
for our shareholders, as well as being in the best interests of our
stakeholders.
One way Big Tobacco is trying to achieve this “value” for
shareholders is by claiming “harm reduction” is good for customers. That means, sure, the products can still harm
you, but they just harm you a little less. Really?
To pursue this “harm reduction policy” most Big Tobacco companies have
invested in e-cigarettes which they apparently see as the wave of the future
which they hope to ride to higher profits for their shareholders, no doubt.
Let’s not be fooled here.
The latest CDC report on teen e-cigarette use shows us that over 250,000
young people who have never smoked a traditional cigarette have tried an
e-cigarette. Of the youth surveyed who
have used an e-cigarette, 43.9% of them said they intend to smoke a traditional cigarette within the next year1.
According to a recent study
published in Tobacco Control, tobacco
companies in Europe which promoted “low risk smokeless tobacco” products were
actually more concerned about continuing sales of new tobacco products “without
cannibalizing existing profits from cigarettes”2.
The bottom line is that Big Tobacco will use words, phrases,
and images that seem wholesome and safe while continuing to produce and
sell their dangerous, addictive products.
Why? Because #TobaccoLies.
References:
- http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/p0825-e-cigarettes.html
- Peeters, S. & Gilmore, A. (2014). Understanding the emergence of the tobacco industry’s use of the term tobacco harm reduction in order to inform public health policy. Tobacco Control, (0)1-7. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2013-051502
"Of the youth surveyed who have used an e-cigarette, 43.9% of them said they intend to smoke a traditional cigarette within the next year1."
ReplyDeleteActually that's just rubbish. The 43.9% includes all those who said they probably WON'T smoke a cigarette in the next year. In other words it's deliberately dishonest.
Copied directly from the CDC's website as referenced above: "In addition to the primary analysis, the authors performed multiple analyses using alternative classifications of smoking intentions among youth. Even when using a more restrictive classification, which only includes those youth with strongest smoking intentions (responses of “definitely” or “probably” will smoke), the results continue to show that never smoking youth who smoked e-cigarettes are nearly two times more likely to have intentions to smoke conventional cigarettes than those who had never used e-cigarettes."
ReplyDeleteIf you have any questions on this, please see the CDC link in the reference section above. Thanks.
The CDC is all about the money trail for the medical line after being with the E-Cigg service for many years now I have never sold or allowed to be sold these products to minors although I know some minors that have acquired an E-Cegg and seems to be able to find juice for them like at Wal-Mart where they can get everything they need across the counter because you do not have to be 18 to buy them and all the teens that I know that have E-Ciggs do not use nicotine and don't want it they just seem to enjoy vaping and I have not found even one that has considered going to smoking cigarettes in fact most of them think that smoking cigarettes is disgusting and despite common belief I have helped many people quit smoking using the E-Cigg in fact almost 100 percent of them that have tried to quit have done so and have gone off of nicotine completely but still vape because they enjoy the flavors so if people are truly concerned for others getting away from cigarettes and the harm that come with them then you will look at E-Ciggs as an alternative that works and works very well and works better than all the other drugs that doctors can prescribe and doctors are not limited to age go figure
ReplyDeleteVThanks for writing such a good article, I stumbled onto your blog and read a few post. I like your style of writing...
ReplyDeleteTobacco Machinery
Are you paying more than $5 per pack of cigs? I'm buying my cigarettes over at Duty Free Depot and this saves me over 60% from cigs.
ReplyDelete