I'm glad the priorities are changing, but I think we can admit that "big tobacco" needed, at one point, to be fought. We're not talking about the current attitude of the tobacco industry — that responsible adults should have and exercise the right to decide if smoking is a habit they would like to pursue. Yes, Joe Camel and cartoon mascots once attracted kids to cigarettes. Yes, the tobacco industry recruited doctors to say their product was actually healthy. Yes, they lied about their product and its effects. I think further regulation is needed to reduce or eliminate the unnecessary chemicals used in cigarettes that make the product less healthy and more addictive, but as long as there are options for those who are legal adults (and I hope all those people come over to pipe tobacco), we can allow the market to rule. The food industry, to some extent, is doing the same thing. Now while I wouldn't condone taxes on unhealthy food as a deterrent any more than I would with tobacco, I wouldn't mind a ban on using cartoon characters to advertise unhealthy food or limitations on the amount of unhealthy ingredients used in foods marketed to children. But the one law I want to see for all consumable goods (food, drink, tobacco or anything else) is a requirement that all ingredients are listed somewhere readily available, because the free market only works when customers are informed.
