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Should we ban killer of millions -- cigarettes?

Nov. 14, 2011 at 5:14 a.m.


Although smoking has fallen sharply in the United States, from about 40 percent of the population in 1970 to only 20 percent today, the proportion of smokers stopped dropping around 2004. There are still 46 million American adult smokers, and smoking kills about 443,000 Americans each year. Worldwide, the number of cigarettes sold - six trillion a year, enough to reach the sun and back - is at an all-time high. Six million people die each year from smoking - more than from AIDS, malaria and traffic accidents combined. Of the 1.3 billion Chinese, more than one in 10 will die from smoking.


"Tobacco control policy," Proctor says, "too often centers on educating the public, when it should be focused on fixing or eliminating the product." He points out that we don't just educate parents to keep toys painted with lead-based paints away from their children's mouths; we ban the use of lead-based paint. Similarly, when thalidomide was found to cause major birth defects, we did not just educate women to avoid using the drug when pregnant.






For those who recognize the state's right to ban recreational drugs like marijuana and ecstasy, a ban on cigarettes should be easy to accept. Tobacco kills far more people than these drugs.







Peter Singer is a professor of bioethics at Princeton University and Laureate Professor at the University of Melbourne. His books include "Animal Liberation," "Practical Ethics" and "The Life You Can Save."



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