Smoking & It's Effects

What is Tobacco?

Plant (genus Nicotine) of the NIGHTSHADE family, and the product manufactured from its leaf and used in cigars and cigarettes, snuff, and pipe and chewing tobacco. The chief commercial species, N. tabacum, is believed native to tropical America. The tobacco plant is a coarse, large-leaved perennial, but it is usually cultivated as an annual. Tobacco requires a warm climate and rich, well-drained soil. After being picked, the leaves are cured, fermented, and aged to develop aroma.

The amount of nicotine (the ALKALOID responsible for tobacco's narcotic and soothing effect) varies, depending on tobacco strain, growing conditions, and processing. The use of tobacco originated among natives of the New World in pre-Columbian times. Introduced into Spain and Portugal in the mid-16th cent., initially as a panacea, it spread to other European countries, and by 1619 tobacco had become a leading export crop of Virginia.  Since the 1950s there has been concern over the harmful effects of nicotine, the tarry compounds, and CARBON MONOXIDE in tobacco smoke; smoking has been especially linked to lung cancer and heart disease.

Additional Resources

• usters Culture Jammers Headquarters - Spoofs of ads, including some highly entertaining looks at cigarette advertising.
• Additives in Cigarettes - So called 'additive-free' cigarettes aren't: chemicals are added to cigarettes, just not to the tobacco.
• Additives in Cigarettes: Chemicals - List of chemicals found in cigarette smoke. Each chemical has a brief health summary.
• Advertising and Promoting U.S. Cigarettes in Selected Asian Countries - United States General Accounting Office report, 1993. "The Thai government said that U.S. cigarette companies continue to violate the country's complete ban on cigarette advertising and promotional sponsorships. Hong Kong provided GAO with pictorial examples of advertisements that it alleges target nonsmokers and children. Taiwan said U.S. cigarette brand posters were placed in areas where they are prohibited. South Korea said the U.S. cigarette companies conducted promotional activities at locations far from licensed retail outlets and supplied cigarettes to nonlicensed retail outlets." Lots of interesting stuff: " James Coburn, Pierce Brosnan, and Robert Wagner starred in a series of TV commercials (adventure vignettes) for Philip Morris' Lark brand Cigarettes in Japan."
• American Cancer Society-Cancer Facts and Figures 1998: Tobacco Use - "Smoking gives you cancer" doesn't tell you the half of it. Did you know that more women have died from lung cancer than breast cancer since 1987? That tobacco causes one of every five deaths in America? That tobacco costs the U.S. more than $100 billion a year in medical bills and lost productivity?
• American Heart Association: Tobacco Industry's Economic and Political Influence - Historically, tobacco companies have used their economic power to wield considerable influence on the political process. A summary of how they do it.
• American Heart Association: Tobacco Industry's Targeting of Youth, Minorities, and Woman - The "Joe Camel" advertising campaign ain't the half of it. The facts on how the tobacco industry goes after youth, minorities, and women.
• American Lung Association on House Republican proposal - A crisp point by point analysis of the proposal. "The Republican leadership principles flunk the test set by Drs. Koop and Kessler and the public health community for effective tobacco control legislation. The Speaker and the House of Representatives should support the Bipartisan NO Tobacco for Kids Act sponsored by Mr. Hansen, Mr. Meehan, Mr. Waxman, and over 100 colleagues. America's children deserve tobacco legislation that protects health."
• American Lung Association: Tobacco - Fact sheets from the American Lung Association on quitting smoking, smoking and women, upcoming legislation, smoking and teens, secondhand smoke, and more.
• American Medical Association - tobacco 101 - Basic facts on tobacco from the AMA. Check out the quotes from the Minnesota trial; the tobacco industry in their own words says that tobacco is a drug. Good factsheets.
• Arizona Tobacco Education & Prevention Program - "Tobacco: tumor causing teeth staining, smelly, puking habit" is this website's theme -- straight ahead, no nonsense, information.
• Arizona's tobacco control initiative illustrates the need for continuing oversight by tobacco control advocates - Research paper. Fully documented look at Arizona's Proposition 200. "Despite opposition from the tobacco industry, Arizonans approved an increase in the tobacco tax. At the legislature, health advocates in Arizona successfully fought the tobacco industry attempts to divert the health education funds and pass preemptive legislation. The executive branch limited the scope of the programme to adolescents and pregnant women. It also prevented the programme from attacking the tobacco industry or focusing on secondhand smoke. Health advocates did not put enough pressure at the executive branch to force it to develop a comprehensive tobacco education programme."
• Asbestos and Cigarettes - Asbestos and cigarette smoke both cause lung cancer, but some types of lung cancer are specific to one cause. A short summary of the facts. Site is run by attorneys who represent people who have cancer from asbestos exposure.
• ASH Thailand - Beautiful, fantastic, site, rips the lid off the merchandising and selling of disease and death, globally and in Thailand. Check out in particular "Foreign Imports (The Marlboro Man comes to Thailand)" and "Circumventing Thai Law".
• Association of State and Territorial Health Officials - ASTHO's Tobacco Prevention and Control Project: Strengthening National, State, and Local Tobacco Prevention and Control Activities to Reduce the Nation's #! Preventable Cause of Death.
• Astro-Turf: Bogus Grass-Roots Groups and the Tobacco Industry - How the tobacco industry uses bogus grass-roots groups to oppose local smoking laws. From the Pacific Sun (Marin County, Calif.), March 13-19, 1996.
• Bibliography on smoking and health - A selection of Addiction Research Foundation library materials on smoking and health.
• Big Tobacco Rides East - With a squinting cowboy, cute cigarette girls, an American allure, and a poorly funded opposition. Big Tobacco likes to tell the U.S. Congress that it's changed; here's the reality. "At the 1998 Hanoi Tet festival Philip Morris had a large tent with Marlboro horses to ride on for children, and young, nicely dressed cowboy girls offered single cigarettes free of charge to young boys."
• Big Tobacco's Deadly Deceits - Article in Midwest Today, June/July 1996. "Cigarette Makers Have Worked Hard to Get Smokers Hooked".
• Blue Cross Tobacco Home Page - Major tobacco reduction programs developed by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, Minnesota Decides, and a lawsuit against the industry.
• Bud Ellis's Home Page - A web page in the memory of Bud Ellis who died August 23, 1998. Bud speaks simply and plainly about his life, as he was nearing its end. Also good resources on quitting.
• Burning Down the House - Full report from Public Citizen documents how the House of Representatives is rolling in tobacco money.
• The Buying of the Congress-Transcripts, Henry Waxman - Interview with Congressman Henry Waxman. Not entirely about tobacco, but substantial material.
• Buying Science (or the appearance thereof) - The tobacco industry paid thousands of dollars to scientists to write letters to influential publications, trying to cast doubt on the health effects of secondhand smoke. Lawyers for the tobacco industry edited the scientists' letters, in some cases wrote the letters. HOT HOT item from the St. Paul Pioneer Planet.
• Canoe-Health: Smoking - Health news and features from C-Health in Canada.
• CBS 60 Minutes - Transcript of 60 minutes show on nicotine manipulation. Even watered down by CBS lawyers, there's plenty of evidence that tobacco industry CEOs were not, let's say, telling the truth, when they swore to Congress that nicotine is not addictive. Also covers intimidation of tobacco industry whistleblowers.
• CDC's TIPS: Tobacco Information and Prevention Source - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) presents the Tobacco Information and Prevention Source (TIPS). This Web site is maintained by the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health, which is a division of the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (US Gov't Web site). Information covering tobacco-related issues and statistics. There are also sections dedicated to youth.
• Chestnet: Smoking and Health - Guess who gets to clean up the tobacco industry's mess? The chest physician. They get to tell the patient and the family, you have a disease that we'll treat aggressively but will probably kill you anyway; you got it from the friendly folks at R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris. Chestnet is a service of a professional organiziation of chest physicians; their site has a good summary of the medical facts of smoking.
• Cigar Industry Conducted Aggressive Marketing Campaign - Think the upsurge in cigar popularity just happened? Nope, it got a little help -- from those who make money on it.
• Cigarette Advertising - Doctors like cigarettes! That and other health claims the industry made in their ads of the 1040's and 1950's.
• Cigarette ingredients: Manufacturers acknowledge use of poisons - Among the cigarettes with arsenic, cadmium, ammonia, and formaldehyde were Winstons, made by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Winstons are advertised as "no-additive" cigarettes in part of what the company has referred to as a "No Bull" campaign.
• Cigars: Coolish or Foolish? - Movie stars and athletes smoke stogies on the cover of magazines. Bars and liquor stores sell fine cigars the way they do fine brandies. It's a symbol of the good life, '90s style. But riskwise, smoking cigars is not much different than smoking cigarettes. The real difference is in the type of cancer that cigar smokers develop -- head and neck instead of lung.
• CJR - Darts & Laurels, Jan/Feb 1993 - (Search for "Burning Issues"). In the 1970s "twenty-six bioscientists who were studying the link between smoking and disease were suddenly fired by R.J. Reynolds after company lawyers had collected their laboratory reports; the research was never made public and was never resumed". Meanwhile Reynolds, with the rest of the tobacco industry, continued to maintain that the link between smoking and disease was "not proven" and "more research was needed".
• CJR - Lessons of the Sixty Minutes Cave-In - Article on how and why CBS caved in to the tobacco industry and what you can learn about the history. "Tobacco companies, when faced with damaging exposure, are increasingly resorting to expensive, intimidating, take-no-prisoners litigation to circumvent the First Amendment, strong-arm the press, silence witnesses, and keep important facts from coming to the public's attention".
• CNNfn - DOJ probes Big Tobacco - Jan. 30, 1998 - CNN news on the criminial investigation of Big Tobacco.
• Columbia Journalism Review Resources for Tobacco Reporting - The Columbia Journalism Review is the premier resource on the web about journalism, for journalists; this site is a terse summary of sources on tobacco for reporters, editors, and journalists
• Common Cause -- Congress and Big Tobacco are friends from way back - Check out the ten year history in particular.
• Common Cause Report: Tobacco Political Giving Report - The tobacco industry keeps showing us that we have the best Congress that money can buy. Common Cause has the numbers.
• Conscientious Consuming Tobacco Company Boycott - Conscientious Consuming is the process of evaluating the conduct and activities of product manufacturers when purchasing consumer products. This action involves the boycott of non-tobacco products of tobacco companies.
• COSSMHO Hispanic Health Link ­ Tobacco Control - Good chronology and info sheets.
• Council for a Tobacco-Free Ontario Home Page - The Council for a Tobacco-Free Ontario (CTFO) is a volunteer-directed, not-for-profit organization whose mission is to eliminate tobacco use in Ontario. Good updates on the situation in Canada and the U.S. Check the Resources area too. In English and French.
• Court TV Tobacco Litigation Documents - Check out "Statements of Former Philip Morris Employees" in particular.
• Criminal Investigation Of The Tobacco Industry, Clifford E. Douglas, May 31, 1998 - Clifford E. Douglas, President Tobacco Control Law & Policy Consulting, Draft Of Speech Given At 13th Annual Conference Of The Tobacco Products Liability Project Northeastern University School Of Law Boston, Massachusetts
• CRP: Tobacco Tally - Center for Responsive Politics has the goods: "here's a snapshot of what Big Tobacco is contributing to Congress, and who's getting the money".

• Dave Goerlitz, former Winston Man - Goerlitz was a lead model for Winston cigarettes during the 1980's. In 1988, he began a personal journey to try to undo the damage his ads have done in addicting young people to tobacco products. His message is: (1) the ads are lies, (2) tobacco use will not make you "cool" or a success as the ads promise
• DayOne broadcast on tobacco industry. - Transcript of the DayOne show on nicotine manipulation by the tobacco industry.
• Democracy Works - Tobacco Industry - Exploitation of sports and arts to promote tobacco; tobacco industry sponsorships.
• DOC: Positive Health Strategies for the Clinic, Classroom, and Community - Doctors Ought to Care (DOC). "DOC has not been afraid to take risks in dealing with our nation's major health issues. A far cry from pamphlets and preaching about the "dangers" of adverse health behaviors, DOC focuses on changing attitudes that have been molded by misleading advertising in the mass media.
• Does the tobacco industry encourage kids to shoplift? - Feature article on Colorado attorney general Gale Norton, who's investigating whether "tobacco companies know cigarettes are regularly stolen by minors -- and they're paying big money to make sure convenience stores and other retailers don't do anything about it, as part of an effort to hook kids on smoking."
• Don't Be Fooled Again Report - "Welcome to a new era of cooperation" as B&W Tobacco put it on March 1998. A kinder, gentler, tobacco industry? This report from Public Citizen shows why you should be skeptical.
• eBMJ -- Collected Resources: Smoking - Recent articles on smoking from the British Medical Journal .
• Entertaining Educational Programs on Substance Abuse Tobacco Prevention - Programs for K thru College. One of the shows "Up In Smoke" was picked by the Massachusetts board of Health to tour schools in the state 5 years ago. The show is no boring lecture: it uses theatre skits, mime, circus arts, comedy, rap and rock & roll music.
• European Tobacco Control Initiative: from Helsinki to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. - Rising Profile of Smoke-free Concerns
• Face the Faces - The human toll of tobacco, from INFACT. Compelling. Started in response to Congressional testimony by a former R.J. Reynolds executive that the people who die each year from tobacco are just "computer-generated number." Really? Face the faces. See some of the people who are dying or dead of diseases caused by tobacco. Read what those who loved them wrote when about losing them. Photos have come in from all over the world.
• FAIR: Smoke Screens: When Journalists Boost the Tobacco Industry, Follow the Money - Media companies give credence to dubious information on tobacco from sources who are close to the industry.
• FAIR: Tobacco Wars: The First Casualty Is Candor - A hard look at recent tobacco reporting, primarily on TV news: which facts get reported? Which don't? And what utterances get reported as "fact"?
• Florida Tobacco Control Clearinghouse - A one-stop shop for tobacco resources/news related to control, prevention, and cessation.
• Former Winston Man cautions students about tobacco industry smokescreen - Dave Goerlitz, a former Winston Man, regrets the illusion he helped create to encourage young men to start smoking. Now he helps students and others see through the smokescreen that he says tobacco companies blow. "My job wasn't to get adults to start smoking," Goerlitz, 48, told sixth- and seventh-graders during an assembly at Sullivan Middle School. "My job was to see how many 9, 10 and 11 years old we could get smoking or chewing."
• Forum on Global Tobacco Control Policies - Conference held in San Francsciso on tobacco control. Think globally, act locally; works better than you might think.
• Frontline: inside the tobacco deal - Interview with Dr. David Kessler.
• FTC Cigarette Testing - 1997 RFC from the FTC. FTC tar and nicotine numbers are inaccurate, for reasons they outline. You actually inhale substantially more tar and nicotine than the numbers state.

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