Child’s Ploy

“EVERY Day, Without Action on Tobacco, 1,000 Kids Will Die Early.” So says the headline of an ad on the op-ed page of the New York Times, conjuring up images of fifth-graders dying from lung cancer, 12-year-olds keeling over with heart attacks in the cafeteria, and high-school sophomores with emphysema wheezing as they climb the stairs on the way to their next class. The ad, sponsored by the National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids, is aimed at obscuring the fact that smokers die from their habit only after they’ve been puffing away for decades— putting them well into adulthood, by most people’s standards.

Such propaganda is part of a broader effort to pretend that the anti-smoking crusade is about protecting “kids” from the Merchants of Death, when in reality it is about protecting adults from them-selves. Saving the children has been offered as a rationale for higher cigarette taxes, restrictions on advertising and promotion, lawsuits against the tobacco companies, regulation of cigarettes by the Food and Drug Administration, and just about every other policy aimed at dis couraging smoking. It is sure to be a persistent theme as Congress debates tobacco legislation this spring. White House advisor Rahm Emanuel describes the choice confronting legislators this way: “They can either stand shoulder to shoulder with corporate tobacco and their profits or protect our children and ensure their health and safety.”

JS

About the Author

Jacob Sullum

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“EVERY Day, Without Action on Tobacco, 1,000 Kids Will Die Early.” So says the headline of an ad on the op-ed page of the New York Times, conjuring up images of fifth-graders dying from lung cancer, 12-year-olds keeling over with heart attacks in the cafeteria, and high-school sophomores with emphysema wheezing as they climb the stairs on the way to their next class. The ad, sponsored by the National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids, is aimed at obscuring the fact that smokers die from their habit only after they’ve been puffing away for decades— putting them well into adulthood, by most people’s standards.

Such propaganda is part of a broader effort to pretend that the anti-smoking crusade is about protecting “kids” from the Merchants of Death, when in reality it is about protecting adults from them-selves. Saving the children has been offered as a rationale for higher cigarette taxes, restrictions on advertising and promotion, lawsuits against the tobacco companies, regulation of cigarettes by the Food and Drug Administration, and just about every other policy aimed at dis couraging smoking. It is sure to be a persistent theme as Congress debates tobacco legislation this spring. White House advisor Rahm Emanuel describes the choice confronting legislators this way: “They can either stand shoulder to shoulder with corporate tobacco and their profits or protect our children and ensure their health and safety.”