Tobacco
use - Although, tobacco
use has attracted a great deal of attention in the United States,
1.3 billion people smoke around the world with five percent
or nearly 50 million of them living in the united States.
More than five million people die each year from
tobacco use worldwide. If current trends continue, tobacco will kill 10
million people a year by 2020; 70 percent of those deaths will
occur in developing countries. Every day the tobacco companies
increase their marketing efforts to addict more smokers around the
globe, focusing especially on the "untapped markets" of
women and children in the developing world. (Full
report)
Tobacco
Industry Influence -
Published research studies have found that kids are three times
more sensitive to tobacco advertising than adults and are more
likely to be influenced to smoke by cigarette marketing than by
peer pressure, and that one-third of underage experimentation
with smoking is attributable to tobacco company advertising.
Tobacco
Industry Political Contributions -
Big Tobacco campaign and political contributions to federal
candidates, political parties and political action committees thwart
public health policy. In
April 2005, a quarterly updated report by The
Tobacco-Free Kids Action Fund
found that the tobacco industry made more than $2 million in
political contributions directly to federal candidates in the
2003-2004 election cycle, and more than $200,000 so far in the
2005-2006 election cycle.
Buying
Influence, Selling Death - The
impact of tobacco industry contributions is evident in the recent
debate over legislation to grant the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) authority to regulate tobacco products. A House-Senate conference
committee killed the FDA legislation in October 2004 when a majority
of the Senate conferees voted for it, but a majority of House
conferees did not. Conference committee members who voted against
the FDA legislation received, on average, nearly five times as
much in tobacco industry PAC contributions as those who voted
for the legislation. Those voting against FDA authority received
on average $27,255 in tobacco political action committee PAC contributions
from 1999 to 2004, while those voting for the legislation received
on average $5,505 in tobacco PAC contributions. (more)
Smoking-Caused
Monetary Costs - The indirect costs of smoking
include health costs caused by exposure to secondhand smoke, smoking-caused
fires, spit tobacco use, or cigar and pipe smoking. Other non-health
costs from tobacco use include residential and commercial property
losses from smoking-caused fires (more than $500 million per year
nationwide); extra cleaning and maintenance costs made necessary
by tobacco smoke and litter (about $4+ billion nationwide for
commercial establishments alone); and additional productivity
losses from smoking-caused work absences, smoking breaks, and
on-the-job performance declines and early termination of employment
caused by smoking-caused disability or illness.
Deaths
From Smoking - Smoking
kills more people than alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs,
murders, and suicides combined -- and thousands more die from
other tobacco-related causes -- such as fires caused by smoking
(more than 1,000 deaths/year nationwide) and smokeless tobacco
use. No good estimates are currently available, however, for the
number of U.S. citizens who die from these other tobacco-related
causes, or for the much larger numbers who suffer from tobacco-related
health problems each year without actually dying.
Federal
Trade Commission Smokeless Tobacco Report -
This report is the latest in a series on smokeless tobacco
sales, advertising and promotion that the Federal Trade
Commission ("the Commission") has prepared biennially
since 1987. The statistical tables contained within this report
provide information on domestic smokeless tobacco sales and
advertising and promotional activities for the Years 2000 and
2001. Commission staff prepared these tables using information
collected, pursuant to compulsory process, from the five major
manufacturers of smokeless tobacco products in the United
States: Conwood Company, National Tobacco Comp any,
Swedish Match North America, Inc., Swisher International, Inc., and
United States Smokeless Tobacco Company ("USSTC"). (Full report)
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