Smoke Signals: Why a Tobacco Giant Backs a Tough New Anti-Tobacco Bill

Link to Time news source

When Senator John McCain introduced FDA regulatory legislation in 1998, the company spent a reported $100 million successfully fighting it. But since then, Philip Morris has had a crucial realization. With 50% of the U.S. tobacco market already safely in the company's pocket — including the more than 50% of 18-to-25-year-olds loyal to its top brand, Marlboro — restrictive legislation will effectively lock in its market dominance, preventing any competitors from taking a bite out of Philip Morris's very lucrative business.

There you have it. The law was heavily funded and backed by lobbyist from Philip Morris. This should have been the red flag for our lawmakers. The funny thing about it is that the lawmakers even felt that something wasn't right bout the "big tobacco" backing legislation that could hurt their profit.

This support of increased government oversight, which Philip Morris first endorsed in 2001, has given even some backers of the bill pause. "It is a concern that the tobacco industry is involved" in the legislation, admits David Burns, a leading tobacco researcher who has testified in court that "light" cigarettes are no less harmful than regular ones and conducted studies for the World Health Organization and U.S. government. Big Tobacco "has a very dark and aggressive history of trying to change both science and public policy to its economic favor," he says.

Even with the knowledge that Philip Morris could be manipulating this for their economic benifit they chose to pass this legislation anyways. I do wonder how much it cost Philip Morris to buy off congress. This is going to show once again why lobbying should be banned. Additional ATS threads are listed below.

ATS Thread: Main provisions of FDA tobacco legislation

ATS Thread: Historic anti-smoking vote to give FDA new power

Damn i need to quit smoking.....evil bastards.
that is a good point though; big red flag. Either way people are going to continue to smoke. I haven't considered big tobacco as much of a problem since the majority of those who smoke decided to in the first place. But when teens are picking them up without thinking about the addiction they will fall into, it's pretty sad to know that this legislation doesn't really make a move preventing potential smokers from ever picking up their first cigg.