COMMENTARY | Smoking is bad for you. Unless you have been living under a rock for the past 30 years, you know this. My 3-year-old grand nephew, when he saw a smoker told the woman that smoking was bad for her. If even the toddlers know that smoking is unhealthy, the message is out. The anti-tobacco people have won the war of words, made their point and we all know it. It’s time to close up shop and pick a new crusade.
Instead of celebrating their victory and moving on to a new health issue, the anti-tobacco lobby convinced congress to push through a law that would require tobacco companies to cover the majority of a pack of cigarettes with a color graphic to warn people of the dangers of smoking. A federal judge just granted an injunction to block this law from taking effect while the tobacco companies fight it out in court.
The judge did the right thing. To force the tobacco companies to use the labels would be a violation of their freedom of speech. There are already warning labels on tobacco. That is plenty.
There are those that make the argument that the tobacco companies should have to do this because it’s in the interest of public health and could potentially lower the healthcare costs for everyone. I disagree because it’s not the place of the tobacco company to see to the health of the public. It’s their job to sell cigarettes. I haven’t heard of legislation in place to show graphic pictures on the sides of cupcake packages of bursting arteries or pictures of exploding hearts on potato chip bags and obesity now kills more people than smoking. The decision to smoke is a personal choice. Everyone knows that it’s not healthy, so let it go.
I looked at the graphic images. They are gross but will not deter most smokers I know. If anything they will end up collecting the packs like trading cards. Personally, I find it ironic that the same people who are so rabidly anti-tobacco and have pushed for this law are also rabidly pro-choice because they don’t want the government making personal decisions for them.