A brief history of the cigarette and Adventist action
By Alexander Carpenter
Allan Brandt
researched “The Cigarette Century: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly
Persistence of the Product That Defined America,” and after doing so
for twenty years, he has become one of the top expert witnesses for
tobacco-related state and federal cases. In 2004 Brandt took the stand
as an expert witness for two full days of cross-examination in the case
of U.S. vs. Phillip Morris. The judge’s opinion referenced Brandt’s
testimony nearly 200 times and for the first time ever tobacco
companies were found to be in violation of Federal racketeering
statutes.
Now, in “The Cigarette Century,” Brandt presents the
definitive history of the cigarette, both as the ultimate cultural icon
and as the produce that shaped US agriculture, big business, medicine,
and regulatory policies in the 20th century. Making extensive use of
previously secret corporate documents which became available in the
last decade as a result of litigation, Brandt offers critical analysis
of the cigarette controversy and how the industry used sophisticated
public relations to invent a modern “disinformation” campaign. —
Cody’s Books
Allan Brandt is the Amalie Moses Kass Professor of
the History of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and holds a joint
appointment in the Department of the History of Science at Harvard
University.
Here’s an article from China in today’s People’s Daily Online:
A recent survey by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency
(ADRA) showed that a tobacco control policy will receive enormous
support in Cambodia, local media said on Wednesday.
Over 90 percent interviewers supported the government’s
adoption of a law on tobacco control, according to the survey of a
sample of 144 staff members from the ministries of Education, Youth and
Sport, Women’s Affairs, and Defense across the country.[snip]According to official statistics, more than 70 percent of the
Cambodian families spend over 10 percent of their incomes on cigarettes
and a pack of locally produced cigarettes costs as much as one kilogram
of husked rice.
The World Health Organization (WHO) once stated that each year
about 5 million people die of tobacco-related diseases worldwide and
the figure could increase to 10 million by 2020.
Taking our public temperance witness seriously, Adventist leaders, such as former Spectrum editor Roy Branson,
have been very active in working with health and consumer groups to
limit the reach of tobacco advertising and raise cigarette taxes.
