An Email from the American Cancer Society

"Next week, President Obama will sign the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act into law. "

The highlights of the bill according to the email are these:

- "Tobacco companies must reveal all product ingredients to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and seek FDA approval for any new products."

- "Our nation's children – potential first-time smokers – will no longer be seduced by flavored tobacco products, including candy- and fruit-flavored cigarettes, which will be banned."

- "Consumers won't be misled by cigarettes labeled "light," "mild," or "low-tar" as healthier choices. These terms have also been banned." (Who's stupid enough to actually be fooled into believing that one cigarette is less healthy than another type? They're still bad - I always thought it was some sort of taste thing.)

- "Warning labels will be clearly visible, taking up at least half of the front and back of cigarette packages." (They aren't clearly visible now? Seriously? I didn't know smoking caused blindness.)

- "No more public cigarette vending machines in places where IDs haven't been checked."

- "Children will be further protected from tobacco advertisements and sponsorships, which will be banned near schools and playgrounds and at sports or entertainment events. The law also restricts colorful store displays." (I thought we were already "protected" from tobacco ads. They aren't anywhere. The only tobacco ads I still see are the old "Mail Pouch" chewing tobacco ads that are painted on the sides of barns in the country - and better not be taken down anytime soon. They're part of our national heritage, as far as I'm concerned.)

What's more is that these people - the American Cancer Society - writes that "it's not easy to stand up to an enemy like Big Tobacco." Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought that the tobacco industry has already been very well regulated. I know that tobacco companies, if they want to get their name out in the open, they have to take out anti-smoking ads by government decree. Now they can only advertise in black and white?

Now, this is a little crazy, but I'm sure I've heard it somewhere before. Maybe educating folks on the negatives of smoking might be, not necessarily a more efficient way, but a more morally correct and, in my opinion, a more American way to deter would be smokers. It leaves the choice up to the people and to make a choice for someone like that seems a little, well, presumptuous. And killing the rights of a company to advertise the way it sees fit - especially in the case of the restrictions placed on the tobacco industry - is utterly against the free market ideals which the US was founded upon.

Don't get me wrong, smoking is definitely unhealthy. I just think that it's bad form and sets terrible precedence for future actions to take place. But we do live in the age of Government Motors...

Let me just say that I will no longer contribute and time or money to anything that has to do with the American Cancer Society.