The U.S. Senate struck Big Tobacco this month, giving the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority over the industry.

The new bill, which was passed in the House of Representatives in April,  will give the FDA power to limit nicotine in cigarettes, to drastically reduce ads that glorify tobacco, and to ban flavored products targeted to young people.

Although differences between the Senate and the House versions of the bill will need to be resolved, the bill is now closer than ever to becoming law.

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A RACKETEER.

A CRIMINAL FOR PROFIT.

A PURVEYOR OF ORGANIZED CRIME.

A TERM RESERVED FOR GANGS, MOBS, MAFIAS, AND TERRORISTS,

AND BIG TOBACCO.

 

Three years ago a US Judge originally issued her FINAL OPINON that Big Tobacco = Racketeers.   Big Tobacco appealed.  But today, AGAIN (A FINAL FINAL OPINION???), a higher court (the US Appeals Court) agreed that it is the ONLY term that fits.

 

Because these deaths aren’t just mistakes.  How else do you describe a MASSIVE, DECADES-LONG campaign to defraud the American public?  How else do you describe an industry that is so cold that it LIES instead of breathes?

Let’s add ‘em up (count how many YOU would get away with before getting grounded):

·        Falsely denying the adverse health effects of their products

·        Falsely denying that nicotine is addictive

·        Falsely representing that "light" and "low-tar" cigarettes present fewer health risks

·        Falsely denying that they marketed to kids

·        Falsely denying that secondhand smoke causes disease.

 

To Big Tobacco’s claim that there was “no scientific consensus” about the dangers of second-hand smoke, the court SPIT BACK that there is no excuse for LIES.  The judges stated that “regardless of whether a scientific consensus existed at any point, defendants may be liable for fraud if they made statements knowing they were false or misleading." Yep, sorry, you LIED. 

 

And once a liar, always a liar.  The court stated that there is a substantial likelihood of future violations of the law by the tobacco industry.  So instead of just taking away their X-Box 360, they’re going to make Big Tobacco publish statements correcting their lies.  Isn’t there more that can be done?  How can we stand by and allow an industry to continue business as usual when it has (repeatedly) DEFRAUDED the American public (and probably will again)?  The US Appeals Court’s words, not mine.

 

How many more FINAL OPINIONS are needed to agree that Big Tobacco LIES?  No more for me, I’m convinced.

A RACKETEER.

A CRIMINAL FOR PROFIT.

A PURVEYOR OF ORGANIZED CRIME.

A TERM RESERVED FOR THUGS, PIRATES, BANDITS, AND DICTATORS,

AND BIG TOBACCO.

- The Fist

 

 

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“Fits in your purse … superslim … hot pink …” sounds like the latest fashion trends from Vogue right … WRONG … how about it being Big Tobacco’s target of women and girls.  The tobacco industry has spent millions of dollars in the last two years to make their products more appealing to women and girls, including products like Camel No. 9 that come in shiny black boxes with hot pink and teal borders with a name similar to the famous perfume for women, Chanel No. 5.  This malicious marketing has taken its toll.  According to a recent study, cigarette smoking hurts women more than men.

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TOBACCO is a social injustice; a societal toxin that WE (the targeted, the smokers, the community) are unfairly EXPOSED TO by a tiny group of corporate criminals who deceive us to pad their pockets with our $money$.  But the stakes are TOO HIGH when 1 out of 3 DIE from using cigarettes as intended and nasty sicknesses are created that unfairly hurt the most vulnerable in our cities.

 

What's CRAZY is that cigarettes (and the injustice) are deliberately ENGINEERED by tobacco companies. They strategize how to addict us while AT THE SAME TIME covering the side-effects of illness, death, and framented spirits with beautiful pictures of models PAID to make smoking look COOL. And the fact that they TARGET US: the youth, the women, the African-Americans, the Native-Americans, the LBGTs, the poor, and more is NO COINCIDENCE.

 

YOU already KNOW that cigarettes are harmful and actually kill... the last thing you need is another teacher lecturing that smoking is bad.  But if it's so obvious, why are we still sitting around being exposed?  We have to take action to tell tobacco companies:

 

"YOU'RE gonna KNOW where I stand"

 

You cower in your tower praying that
I'll disappear,
I got another plan, one that requires
me to stand.
On the stage or in the street, don't
need no microphone or beat.

 

Saul Williams - List of Demmands (Reparations)

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When it comes to aiming addictive products at the people, nobody hits the target like Camel. First we got Joe—that hip, tobacco-pushing cartoon camel any kid could love. Then we got the hot pink and pastel, “light and luscious” Camel No.9’s—a brand so clearly designed to target teen girls, it might as well come with lip gloss, a Cosmo and a copy of High School Musical 3. Now there’s Camel Crush, and man, is this cigarette supposed to be cool. High-tech cool. Customizable cool. Crush it and change the flavor of your cigarette cool. Dead cool, right? Except they forgot to mention the deadly part. Instead, they’ve tapped into the way teens live to sell their killer chemicals. We customize our profiles, our clothes, our ringtones, our entire lives, so what better way to reach us than with a customizable cigarette? It’s clever. It’s also a complete manipulation—and FACT members are seeing straight through it.

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