Pubdate: Fri, 14 Jul 2000 Source: Orange County Register (CA) Copyright: 2000 The Orange County Register Contact: P.O. Box 11626, Santa Ana, CA 92711 Fax: (714) 565-3657 Website: http://www.ocregister.com/ Author: Lionel De Leon TOBACCO TRIALS PUT WRONG PEOPLE ON THE DEFENSIVE The cancer risk from cigarettes has been widely publicized for years, and its addictiveness has been obvious even longer. Those who ignored the U.S. surgeon general's warnings and anti-smoking advertisements have no one to blame but themselves if they are diagnosed with lung cancer or other respiratory illnesses. The tobacco industry lied to protect its financial interests. If anyone is to blame for tobacco-related deaths besides the individual, it would have to be the FDA, DEA or whichever alphabetic government agency regulates products for consumer safety. They are the people who have allowed tobacco products to be on the market despite evidence they are carcinogenic and harmful to respiratory health. But if our government tried to add tobacco to the list of dangerous and illegal drugs, it would lead to a house cleaning of our incumbent government officials on Election Day. And if tobacco is not on the list, then why is cannabis? tobacco causes more deaths than all other illegal drugs than all other illegal drugs combined, while cannabis is practically harmless Lionel De Leon - Garden Grove - --- MAP posted-by: greg