| The Tobacco Reference Guide |
| by David Moyer, MD. |
| Chapter 35 Economic issues |
| globalink (artefact pour saut de ligne) |
| The tobacco industry is using its enormous public relations and lobbying resources to |
| try to convince Congress and the American public that a health tax on tobacco would |
| do such a good job of reducing smoking that tobacco farmers would be devastated. |
| This implies that Americans must keep smoking and dying in vast numbers to |
| preserve tobacco industry jobs and the economic health of tobacco-producing states. |
| This argument is both immoral and factually wrong. Even if the debate were about |
| industry jobs vs. human lives, only the tobacco processors would support the sacrifice |
| of hundreds of thousands of lives to protect a much smaller number of jobs. But the |
| debate is not about jobs vs. lives. The tobacco industry has distorted the facts about |
| jobs, just as it has manipulated the government and the tobacco farmers for so many |
| years. One recent industry publication projected that the tax would cost 270,000 jobs |
| even though there are only 256,616 jobs involved in the entire industry, including |
| farming, warehousing, manufacturing and wholesaling. |
| Washington Post, February 9, 1994, p. A23 (Jimmy Carter) |
| tobacco reference guideg (artefact pour saut |
| Page 34 of 34 |
| globalink (artefact pour saut de ligne) |
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