Cigarette companies make a significant profit from the sale of products that harm consumers and escalate health care costs. So, you may want to applaud the FDA for stepping up to “regulate” tobacco – thinking that it will protect consumers and ensure that only safe products are sold in the U.S.
Think again.
The way the new “Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act” is crafted, cigarette manufacturers will not have to remove any of the toxic ingredients that are currently in cigarettes. Yes, there will be some changes in labeling, packaging and marketing – to eliminate untruthful language like “low tar” and “low nicotine” and create larger warning labels. But cigarettes will still be harmful, addictive products.
Sadly, there will nothing safer about a cigarette with this new FDA oversight.
Research tells us that cigarettes, which contain tobacco and dozens of other carcinogens, are responsible for the deaths of more than 1200 people a day in our country. Numerous reports by the U.S. Surgeon General’s Office have clearly stated: “We know that smoking causes diseases in nearly every organ of the body.” Furthermore, if we could stop tobacco use all together, it would eliminate 30% of cancer and heart disease.
That would be a lot of health care and productivity dollars saved.
If the government won’t stop tobacco use, then businesses should take measures into their own hands and help people stop smoking. Because every employee that lights up a cigarette is causing a drag on your productivity and your health care costs.
The cost of smoking cessation programs are minuscule in comparison to the costs of not taking action; of not helping employees free themselves from this powerful, costly addiction and its grasp on your profit margin.
Congress may have intended for this new legislation to reduce the hold of tobacco addiction on our country and prevent the next generation from embracing the costly habit. Unfortunately, it doesn’t protect consumers or businesses – it protects only tobacco company interests. They’ve been making a killing for years and have no incentive to stop.
Consumers and businesses should be outraged by the continued impact tobacco companies have on health and health care costs. It’s time to regain control of our health and our money. It’s time for America to stop smoking.
Tags: addiction, cessation, cigarettes, costs, Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, FDA, health care, healthcare, Phillip Morris, productivity, smoking
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