Big Tobacco has been lying to us?

John Hopkins

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The Christian Science Monitor reports that big tobacco has been lying to the American public for over 50 years and District Court Judge Gladys Kessler stated that: "As the evidence overwhelmingly demonstrates, (tobacco's) fraudulent conduct has permeated all aspects of their operations -- from how they design, manufacture, and market their products to how they communicate with the public about them -- and continues to this day."

Although I am sure that the Tobacco Industry would maintain that they have been repeatedly punished and enough is enough, that complaint ignores the huge profits made on the backs of defrauded smokers. Judge Kessler was limited in how she could punish the tobacco companies, because the case was brought by the government under the RICO statutes (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act). The government was forced to reduce their request for punishment.

It has been suggested that the tobacco industry be regulated by the FDA. That would require Congress to act and to resist a $22 million tobacco lobby. In addition, given the FDA's lackluster performance as watchdog to regulated drugs, would the public be much better off?