As if we needed proof that tobacco companies could care less about their customers. First, we learn they controlled the levels of nicotine in cigarettes to keep their customers coming back for more. Lawsuits were everywhere and "big tobacco" became associated with the dark underbelly of big business.
There has been speculation for some time now, that smoking has become predominantly a poor man's habit. Oh sure, there are lots of rich people who smoke, but the lionshare of their customer base are of lower socio-economic means. In fact, this could be directly correlated with the level of education achieved by the worldwide smoking community, which is pretty low.
For a long time now, we've known that the more education a person has, the less likely they are to either smoke in the first place or continue to smoke without attempting a cessation program. The journal Public Health evaluated cigarette emissions from a variety of cigarettes which could be purchased in 10 different countries. They wanted to see if the tobacco producers modified their products based on the overall economic standing of the country and its residents. The study showed what you would expect: the higher a country's income, the better and cleaner engineered the cigarettes were and hence, the poorer and less educated you were, the more toxic the cigarette.
So before you buy that pack of cigarettes from a poor country, you might want to think twice. It very likely has many times more the cancer causing agents than your standard US pack.
It's a shame smoking has become such a curse on the lower socio-economic citizens of this world. The poor and uneducated just don't seem to have a chance. Add to this that smoking is such a vital part of their culture, passed on from parents to children. I'm not a real advocate for government telling business what to do, but in this case of the public health, why wouldn't they step into the fight and require more from the producers or at least help educate the poor? If for no other reason than so they can sleep at night.
To keep this from becoming a political conversation, I'll stop there. For those who dislike tobacco control programs, remember this blog entry and ask yourself who is looking out for the little guy?
