Bites: Radioactive Substances in Cigarettes and Big Tobacco Sponsorships
Here’s some food for thought.
Polonium in Cigarettes
An article in the American Scientist dated Jan 5, 2011 states that cigarettes today contain a radioactive substance called polonium, the very same substance that was used to kill former KGB operative Alexander Litvinenko in London in November 2006. The article also shows that the tobacco industry knows of the levels of polonium in cigarettes, and provides a link to Dr Paul Eichorn’s handwritten note stating: ‘It has the potential of waking a sleeping giant’. Eichorn worked with Philip Morris’ Research and Development and acted as a spokesperson for the Tobacco Institute in the seventies.
Just wondering what the levels of polonium in our cigarettes are like.
Sponsorship by Big Tobacco
British American Tobacco Malaysia still offers scholarships to Malaysian students as can be seen on its website. This is despite clear legislation in Section 5 of the Control of Tobacco Product Regulations that prohibits sponsorship. A contravention of this section attracts a penalty of a maximum of ten thousand ringgit or imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years.[1]
Is there a reason why sponsorship by tobacco companies is still allowed? Since Big Tobacco is getting away with this, should we not prosecute for all offences that carry a maximum jail term of two years? Like the following Penal Code offences: s203 Giving false information on an offence committed, s377D Outrage on decency, and s500 Defamation.
Is it because there is a so-called ‘benefit’ to society as a result of tobacco sponsorships? That kids get to go to school? People forget that tobacco sponsorships normalise tobacco use, provide an image of tobacco companies as reliable, trustworthy and dependable, and is a form of advertising for the company. And I’m not forgetting the fact that these kids sponsored by Big Tobacco run the risk of growing into adults that are partial to favourable impressions of the tobacco industry.
We’ve got to remember that tobacco companies manufacture LETHAL PRODUCTS. In that respect, they can be compared to manufacturers of arms, cyanide, asbestos, and explosive devices. They all manufacture lethal products. Someone who opposes these public health arguments are likely to say: Yeah, but any product can be lethal. A toothpick can be lethal. Paper clips can be lethal. Even Vitamin C in large enough doses can be lethal. These arguments are frivolous and baseless.
Tobacco products are inherently dangerous and smoking them exposes a person to over 4000 dangerous chemicals. That includes polonium, tar and ammonia. We’ve got to be real about these facts. We’ve got to be real about enforcing our law on sponsorship prohibition. We don’t want big tobacco to look like a generous philanthropist, sending people’s kids to college, and giving them a better future. It’s a waste of time, really. They send them to school, give them the idea that tobacco companies aren’t that bad, then maybe they’ll smoke a cigarette or two, or four, or forty, or twenty a day til they die of lung cancer. Yahoo, another person’s dead, but who cares, we gave him his education and we made good profits.
There’s something to think about.
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