The Tobacco Conspiracy
A history of the tobacco industry's lies and scams. From the US in 1953 to Africa today, the controversy between individual responsibility and corporate greed is portrayed in a lucid, undaunted manner.
From scientific frauds to working with organized crime, tobacco companies show their hidden agenda more clearly than ever in this theatrically released documentary.
More than three years of investigating all over the world has allowed Nadia Collot to decipher the attitudes of an industry that, in spite of many prevention campaigns still expands its power at the cost of public health. Three aspects of industry behavior are studied:
1. Scientific subversion: proof of the manipulation of scientific evidence and buying out of scientists to maintain controversy over the health issues related to smoking, but even more so today, related to environmental tobacco smoke.
2. Ideological subversion: whether it be through clever and disguised product placements on screen or TV, creating its own biased health messages, implementing subtle and ingenious marketing tactics or using political lobbying manoeuvres, the tobacco industry has gone to unbelievable extents to do what it says it never will.
3. Economic strategies: to develop as fast as possible, to infiltrate closed-market countries, to better reach the young and the poor, smuggling is one of the ways the industry has chosen to organize its international growth.
Anyone who spends 6-7 dollars on a pack of cigarettes/tobacco products is making him/herself, and indirectly their close ones, poorer by 6-7 dollars each and every time s/he smokes/consumes a pack of cigarettes/tobacco products, and makes the tobacco industry and traders richer by 6-7 dollars at the cost of his/her health and potential emotional setback for his/her family. Each and everyone who is profiting from the tobacco industry and trade is building their castle on someone else's grave and this includes the executives, stockholders, lobbyists, wholesale and retail traders who facilitate the sale of tobacco products. You as a consumer of tobacco products are allowing them to build their castle your grave and your family members' grave.
This is a brilliant documentary, an eye-opener, it focuses on the most important issues of the unprecedented fraud and mass murder by the tobacco industry. All this is proven by 90 millions of internal documents. A welcome addition are some fo the best eye-opening videospots from around the world. People that still defend the tobacco industry are either paid by them or completely brainwashed and dumb. The have viciously conspired for decades to sell a product that kills one out of two of their consumers, and of course they target children as young as they can. Remember Ardi Rizal from Indonesia? The big lie is actually not that cigarettes are not harmful, the big lie is that they are a legal product! It's really incomprehenseble how corrupt most governements have been in this respect for such a long time.
Good to know! I will watch it! Do you know of there is a documentary about the case against big tobaccco?
none of you seem to get the point.
no-one cares if YOU smoke!
I DID smoke until today - smoking is a giant pit that the 5% want the other 95% to fall into, you get into it, you cant get out.
cigarettes are legal because:
- government can make money off addiction
- government can make money off of killing you (indirectly)
- government can watch the population decrease
- government can tax you on it to make more money off of killing you and addicting you to this drug!
I don't understand most of the peoples comments here as it seems most people have just come here to vent about smoking
you either smoke or you don't
and if you do (like I did until this day) then I hope you too soon see how the small percentage tricked you into giving them more money, less people.
it is a conspiracy - and no not a theory - facts are facts - cigarettes and alcohol are legal even though we all see the devastating effects both can have.
just need to open our minds
still not smoking?
Tobacco DOESNT kill... its the PLASTIC and BLEACH they add to the papers as well as the ARSENIC and AMONIA they treat most tobacco brands with.. tobacco can PROTECT against cancer... as well as dementia and it even increased nicotinic receptors in the brain which leads to INCREASED INTELLIGENCE.. these people selling plastic papers and chemically treated tobacco are evil and are demonising a wonderful plant by actually making it harmful. They should be tried and executed for mass murder!
who the hell wrote the script for the "heads of tobaco companies" meeting?
oh lordy...
How unhealthy are fumes from cigarette production????
Why smoke when you can kill your self a lot cheaper and less pain with a bullet
I used to smoke myself and was made to stop by my dr due to near stroke
Pack a day for 23 years and quit overnight using an electronic cigarette. Since the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries, with the FDA operating as their whore of official proclamation, seem to be losing the battle against the e-cig, I expect to see a big $$ co-opt in the near future.
Nicotine is still poisonous. You never quit, just switched to a cleaner delivery method.
Actually if you actually looked at the MSDS of vaporized nicotine, and at various nicotine related studies, you would clearly see that nicotine in-itself is not hazardous to health if used in the correct dosage. EVERY chemical on earth is "poisonous" at a certain dosage. That argument holds no credence in any realistic way. Vitamin C, and water are lethal in certain dosages (and yes, there are recorded deaths). When you exhale vapor from an E cig, you are exhaling water - any the chemicals that are already present in the polluted air outside in which we breath in. There have been several studies (paid for by the tobbacco industry of all) that claimed that people were exhaling substances like "formaldehyde" in the vapor. Little did anyone know, that the same levels of these toxic chemicals were measured in the control groups exhaled air - who did not use vape devices.
Having a "nicotine" only device is a real godsend to a lot of people and will save many many lives. Nicotine is not what is responsible for tobacco related deaths. Nicotine is habit forming - but not "toxic" in the doses that smokers consume. Congrats to anyone who has quit using an electronic cigarette. Even if you never quit smoking your E cig, you won't suffer any of the long term symptoms/destruction of traditional cigarettes. If people really knew the truth about this, everyone would be endorsing these products. Think of how many millions die every year. That could end. But instead, we listen to the bullshit science put forward by tobacco companies (that very few ever seem to actually look at). There's no conflict of interest there right? :P
Well yeah, I guess. As long as you don't smoke it or injest it. It was used to kill bugs like maybe 100 yrs. ago. Ironic isn't it?
Nicotine is a heavy and highly addictive drug... 22 years smoking and inhaling the dangerous fumes from cigarettes and rollies... Have failed to quit several times. six weeks down the line and I'm already wondering why...
Scientists never say, I believe :D. I believe nicotine is not addictive ... lol
yada yada yada ok smoking is bad for you.funny though. the government heavily taxes this dangerous product. It is the only consumer product taxed to unbelievable proportions. But then the governments who support the smoking bans use this revenue to invest the taxes collected then support the industry by investing in the stocks of the tobacco industry. This money is then filtered into govrnment pension funds. Hmmmm. Ismell a rat! Sure some of it gets put into the health fund to aid in the hospitals for smokers but lets not forget. Smokers also pay for health care to. We do work just like you none smokers do and we also support the health care from the taxes the governments collect on the product which filters into the health care system.Funny thing I have family that work in the medical field in hospitals as rns. In all the years working in different enviroments they cant recall ever dealing with a paitent affected with smoking related diseases. But they have seen many alcoholics, drug overdoses both pharmiacutical and illegal drug use.The addictive properties of tobacco use is powerful. I know. I have been smoking for 40 years and had many failed attempts at quiting. Breaking a heroin addiction is easier. Doctors know this too.Yes smokers make the choice of lighting up. But as many of us were drawn to it by advertising actors promoting brands in the 60s and 70s it was the in thing to do. Peer presure also adds to the choice.You tend to follow the crowds when all around you are doing it. The only way to get us the users of the product to quit is to make the manufaturing of the product illegal.That will never happen because of the revenue collected on the product.The government has banned many harmfull chemicals and carcinagenics in order to protect us and the enviroment. That said why is tobacco excluded from the list of harmfull chemicals?
You make valid points, but here's one that's a pet peeve of mine: where I work, all the smoker's (or cliques of them) go out for at least fifteen minutes an hour to smoke a cigarette. Shouldn't non-smokers be allowed to go outside and bullsh*t for the same amount of time?
No one gets 15 minutes per HOUR ... if they do, then your employers are fools and are losing money hand over fist. Look for a new job, this one won't be around much longer.
What a great reply, how true why not just make them illegal, we know why dont we, I have been smoking since i was 16 , now 79, you would not believe how many times I have tried to stop. I cant even count. Thanks for your contribution
I can agree with one tobacco company position, it is the fault of the government and consumer. The government for not having stricter regulations and the consumer for not using common sense. You cannot blame the beer, wine and spirit companies for being a drunkard and then dying of cirrhosis. Its time for people to begin taking responsibility for their choices. I mean who markets meth or crack as being a 'cool' drug and yet you have people falling over themselves to get addicted. I think they go way too far to try and regulate the use of cigarettes in hollywood films, this is pc nanny state gone terribly wrong. Either they ban cigarettes straight out or shut the hell up and leave the corps alone. Its hypocrisy all of this. All because they cannot get people to stop smoking for themselves.
Imagine i will sell juice full of chemicals that causes you cancer. You are responsible for drinking it.!
And the thing is that cigarets are sold without noticing what is in them (chemicals) as there is maybe 5-7% of tabaco it self in cigaret.
You know, I don't really care if you live or die if you smoke. It's the enormous costs encountered as you die slowly. I object to paying for your medical costs. You do have a choice. I used to smoke heavily and have quit now for over 30 years. Believe me, if I can do it, you can as well. From personal experience I have watched smokers die from emphysema, lung cancer, losing limbs..and it isn't their death thats the issue, other than personally..it's the enormous medical costs. Non smokers should not have to pay for smokers slow, painful, costly deaths.
Government is in confllict in regards to cigarette and alcohol sales. They benefit hugely from the taxes collected from these sales. They say quit, but what if everyone did? I think our country would be in financial trouble. I have no idea what the amount actually is, but I'm certain it is significant.
Lots of costly problems with smoking and drinking, and I don't have any easy answers. As in everything, there are pros and cons. I wonder if the health costs would equal the taxes?
You also fail to realize that in a number of countries, the number 1 contributer in taxes is tobacco. Those smokers actually pay for YOUR medical bills. And if you live in America, seeing as you have no universal health care, you either provide for yourself, or you have private insurance. If you have private insurance and are a smoker - there are conditions to what type of coverage you actually have. Good job buddy. Just amazing to see how people manage to point their finger at anybody else but themselves to justify that segment of society is to blame for their problems. You seem like a true mainstream media watching American. Turn on Fox news and return to the rock in which you crawled out from.
You know, I don't care if you live or die..that's not the point. It's the huge medical costs to care for you smokers as you slowly die that bothers me. The medical costs of taking care of someone who has lung cancer directly related to smoking is huge, or emphysema, or losing a leg, lung - whatever, and I know this from personal experience - that's the real problem. The people who don't smoke should not have to pay for those who do..which is what ultimately happens.
As for government conflict of interest..horrendous. They've been urging you to smoke your face off because they need the money. If people insist that smoking, drinking etc. is their right, then do tax the shit out of alcohol and cigarettes. But what bothers me is the conflict of interest. Government says..stop drinking, smoking etc., but what would our economy look like without the huge interest paid out from the sales of cigs. and alcohol? The government says stop, but is complicit in keeping you smoking and drinking.
You do not pay for anyone but yourself, dear. Smokers pay an enormous tax to smoke, and as long as you are not inhaling it directly there is no cost to you personally, in body or pocket. Sheesh. Our GOVERNMENT only does what People tell it to do, so if you don't like it, elect someone else to do what you want. In the interim, never think that YOU personally do jack s*it. It's all of us in the aggregate, and some actually pay morte than others and yet it is their freedom to choose that is being hampered by an uneducated moral minority. This is changing - but not fast enough! We want our civil rights returned, we want fair taxation, right? we ALL pay taxes, some more than others too!
So you care more about money than the lives of others? Doesn't that make you the same as these companies? Whichever side of the argument, there is never enough empathy
The tobacco industries are corporations and all corporations will do whatever it takes to make profit. How are the companies that produce prescription medications different in any way from the tobacco industry, in the sense that they will lie and do whatever it takes to make a profit, even if it kills people and produces products they know for a fact are unhealthy? All companies will lie, cheat, steal, do whatever it takes to stay in business and make a profit. They will do this especially if they feel they are being attacked by the government. Yeah tobacco is very bad for you. So is alcohol, fast food, car exhaust, pollution, corn syrup, industrialized meat and a ton of other things companies produce. Why don't we go after them too, with the same vigilance we have gone after the tobacco industries? Stress is also scientifically proved to be incredibly bad for your health and companies definitely produce that in droves, but no one seems to care about that. What is the cost of all these things to taxpayers in terms of the people who need healthcare because of them? For just alcohol alone the cost is astronomical. Don't worry, we will get around to attacking and putting an insanely high tax on something you enjoy eventually, because its bad for you and the USA knows whats best for you.
All of these cigarette companies should switch over to manufacturing pot.
They wouldn't be killing anyone, and they'd still be making a crazy amount of profit.
Allot of the videos in the conspiracy section should be in the History section :p
@ Vlatko
Just because the word "Conspiracy" appears in the title of this documentary doesn't mean it should be listed here, in the Conspiracy section. This piece belongs in the History section.
I remember well those senate hearings in 1994 when the 7 tobacco CEO'S declared under oath that they 'believed nicotine is not addictive',because they showed it on the news here in the uk,and it made me so angry that i actualy found the strength to kick the habit after what was by then a 14 year old habit.I had failed many times previously.Sadly after 6 months i had a weak moment when out with friends and relapsed.That was my golden opportunity and i blew it.bugger.Here we are in 2011 and another 17 years have passed and i smoke more than ever.
I'ts catching up with me now though,i feel realy rough,chest pains shortness of breath,persistant cough,guess i'm not going to be one of those lucky 80 year old smokers you here of.I was thirteen when i started,young naive and of course invincible.Oh how i wish the tighter tobacco controls that are around now were in place then.Maybe they wouldn't have recruited me too.
I think i can safely say that my tobacco addiction has ruined my life.It has kept me poor and reduced the fiscal choices open to me,it has totaly buggered up my health and in the last ten years in particular has made physical activity realy difficult.I am only 44.
Whilst realising that the purpose of any business is to make money otherwise what's the point in existing,i do feel a victim of the tobacco business and welcome any measures taken by governments that will hopefully one day lead to the death of this cruel business.How can killing people slowly and horrifically for profit be right?Children are vulnerable as we all know and i am sure no sensible person would advocate pushing drugs on kids so why tobacco?
yes i welcome any tough measures that would spare future generations what i and millions of others go through on a daily basis.Namely a slave to tobacco.I hate that feeling and watching this documentary has made me angry again,maybe it's time to give it another go......
give it one ome try i promise it will be your last at your age... im a smoker 26 year old and been going about the same as you... i was smoking when i clicked this lol... im going to give it a serious try again and you help it will move me, however if you decide to continue then f*** you, im still going :)
please just quit, im going to have to watch my own father die from his addiction, because he is stubborn, you have control of what you decide to smoke or not smoke!!!!!! DONT YOU Realize THIS???? WE SUFFER ENOUGH! DONT ADD TO IT!
lol at all the comments by the smokers here about second hand smoke "not being so bad" or airosol and car pollution being worse. No wonder the silly comments and hostility given u guys cant use the "oh im just hurting myself" argument smokers so love. P.S. even that doesnt make sense because everyone ends up paying for the medical costs. Plus killing yourself slowly is in general not great for your friends and family to witness. :/
So, I was only 2 minutes into this film, when I ran into a snag. (I love it when docs lay out statistics - because, sometimes, they can be checked). So, I hit pause when I saw numbers that are supposedly statistically verifiable facts.
Okay, i said to self, let's check this out. The Doc says 15 Million smokers die every year - so I asked how many adults die every year? Answer (from 2009 world stats is 56.597 million - but it won't tell me how many of those are children, so back to the drawing board). I went to the daily stats. The Doc says that means 13,000 Smokers Die every day! (Wow, looks high; is it really a high number). Well, I have been reading Health reports and Health stats for over 20 years, and my mind is already saying "I smell a rat" - so let's compare the Daily Death rate, which is 155,500. Turns out 25,000 of those are children. So, don't even need a calculator for this one, minus 25,000 = 130,500 ADULTS Die everyday, world wide, from ALL causes. Now I am immediately thinking "Houston. We have a Problem". Because that means 10% (slightly less actually) of those Adults who Die every day are Smokers. That just doesn't make sense. Surely the percentage of adult smokers is "higher" then 10%, and even if it was the same, it would mean they were no more likely to die from smoking then from anything else. So, I looked it up. Hmmm. Turns out the World wide average of smokers is 22% of the population! ... cutting through all the rhetoric, what that means, smokers do NOT die in higher numbers, per day, or per year, per capita. They 'should' statistically represent 22% of the daily death rate (simple arithmetic); according to the 'stats' presented in the DOC they don't even represent 10%! (maybe smokers are more careful when they cross the road? :) ps. this from wiki answers: " How many people die, world wide? Best Answer: So far, nearly all of them", lol - Okay, take the Corporate Greedy to task - make them pay! But the truth is, what the public bans have been most effective in doing is "blaming the victim". Non Smoker's have made the 'victim/addicts' into the Villains. I never felt truly discriminated against until the first time I stepped outside a building, to have a smoke...
It is crazy how all these people want tobacco banned. If people choose to smoke they will smoke, you can not take peoples liberties away. I understand how smoking indoors in public areas is not ok but that shouldn't even be brought up since smoking is band in almost all public places.
The people who want tobacco banned should also have all of their aerosol sprays taken away since they produce harmful chemicals for humans and the environment. They should stop using gas powered vehicles since they produce carbon monoxide and they should also stop using electricity since most of it comes from gas powered generators.
And people need to stop worrying so much about life expectancy in general. The world is overpopulated as it is there is no need to worry about people's life expectancy. If anything you should be worried about the harmful effects of overpopulation.
As I said to every one that does something to themselves instead of killing yourself so slowly just take a gun shoot yourself dont be a coward and stop using precious resources in the world.... now being said that I cant control pollution neither pesticides and all the crap that goes around but yes I have the choice of what I put in my body now the side effects of smoking are there now some ppl smoked their whole life never happens anything well there is alwasy freaks of nature and certainly all are not the same.
What a bloody croc. they go on about contraband and smuggling already going on now... What the f*$#k do they think is going to happen if they totally ban tobacco sales? And what the h%#ll is this thing going on mostly in French anyway?
Re" second-hand smoke: I grew up in a house where every one smoked, all day, everyday. I remember going to the cinema where the smoke drifted up and competed with the movie. I have smoked myself for more years than I can count and I can still blow up a balloon better than a non-smoking teenager. I can smell a conspiracy theory, probably started by oil companies trying to divert the attention away from their own air-polluting business. Blame all the air pollution on the smoker.... yeh, right!
actually what i meant to say is: some things we need to tolerate to live our lives fullest with respect to each other. we all die some day.
actually what i meant to say is
some things we need to tolerate to live our lives fullest with respect to each other. we all die some day anyway. peace
actually what i meant to say is
some things we need to tolerate to live our lives fullest with respect to each other. we all die some day anyway. peace
i as a smoker can understand well the annoyance of my habit and apologize for it. i hope you flower-hat naggers remember also nag to all those stupid whores (and some faggots these days) who use too much cheap perfume and come to MY public space to fill my lungs with it, and make me feel like im in a glue shop all cans open. really can make one feel nauseous in a full tram or other closed place.
first of all, i smoke and i can see maybe a little bit where the non-smoker are coming from but for one i dont drive any car but yet i still have to breath in these carbon omissions that if you look at the statistics thats probably twice as as deadly as second hand smoke. but i have no problem with people that drive. so the thing is if we carnt physically see these things effecting us then no one really gives a s****. thats why we are letting idiots run our countries and letting them rob us of our money because everyone include myself is too ignorant to do s****. so stop arguing about petty little things and start fighting against what really is affecting us.
I decided to watch this documentary 24 hours after quitting smoking, in hopes that it would help me maintain a positive attitude towards quitting. After watching this, I can honestly say that I believe this is exactly what I've needed to cure my 20-year addiction!! So thank you, Nadia, for being a truth-seeker. Also, just ignore the comments defending smokers--it is just the nicotine talking, and I know all too well how that feels, and it's a very sad place to be, having your entire life, thoughts, and feelings dictated to you by a chemical. Non-smokers will never be able to understand. To all the other ex-smokers & potential ex-smokers out there—Yay! to us for beating these tobacco bullies at their gargantuan game that's all about profit and never about humanity.
Why does the USA launch trade embargos for refusing tobacco products? AND WTF?! i cant even grow my own tobacco legally to remove A L O T of those 'flavour' chems.
Greed!
@Torrque
the problem is that it isn't the tobacco companies that are being targeted by the anti-smoking lobby. They come up with shaky science saying that second hand smoke kills, and pump everyone into a fervor against smokers when rage should be directed against these big companies and the government for the role they have played.
Seems to me you're too focused on the inconvenience of holding your breath for a second as you walk through a small cloud provided by smokers as factories down the road spew their smog in the air and pump their sludge into the river, only to go home and have your older brother grab you by your head, throw you down and f@#$ in your face.
Perhaps this frustration with smokers is due to the impotence of dealing with those factories and big brother, so rage is focused on an element that seems within control, second hand smoke. Well I say look beyond limiting the freedoms of other and look to what really matters.
It's interesting how many 'shills' are on here, they still don't know that Tobacco causes cancer, despite the health warnings? Hmmmm, I smell a rat. A big fat tobacco shill rat.
Also, the argument isn't about other forms of things that are likely not healthy for humans, or the planet for that matter. It's SIMPLY about cigarettes and smoking. Focus people. We may take up an argument about every form of toxin, but for the argument of smoking; healthy or not, throwing in everything else and the kitchen sink STILL doesn't justify it.
Also, somebody who makes it to 80 on 3 packs a day, though a patron saint for smokers the world over, is still not the point. Could that person run like the animal we humans are? Would they have been a model of health to extol the virtues of smoking? I'm always amused at the arguments smokers use to justify their habit. I frankly couldn't care if one smokes or not, AGAIN I just don't want to be around the physical results of that smoking (2nd hand health risks or the stench of the burn). And as smokers, you also shouldn't care what non-smokers think, as long as you have the capacity to manage your choice in public in how it effects others, which seems to speak to the point of the moralistic ground you likewise attempt stand upon to counter attack non-smokers' arguments.
For the smokers in this forum, by all means please continue to smoke and do as you wish. Free country, agreed. But the bottom line is that non-smokers shouldn't have to smell or breath it. There is such a thing as social etiquette, otherwise go live in a cabin out in the woods or in a cave somewhere and carelessly behave as you choose. Your smoking pollutes others' space, pure and simple. Non-smokers in contrast don't do a thing to a smokers environment. That is where non-smoker's rights trump smokers. The smoking of a cigarette is not limited to the air in your lungs, it's a unappealing and unhealthy cloud that spreads into others' space. Hopefully the smokers here though disinterested in their own health and internal harmony don't lack that simple bit of intelligence to comprehend this truth. I don't care if somebody smokes or doesn't, but either way, as a non-smoker, I'm not at all agreeable to having a smokers smoke within my breathing space. I shouldn't have to smell it, shouldn't have to deal with it. Go do it in your own home where nobody can say a thing to you. There at home, you may smoke, blow your own gas, have halitosis, pleasure yourself by yourself, pleasure yourself with a partner, eat meat, eat vegies, paint your walls boring white or electric fuschia, grow your own spleef in a terrarium or keep fish in it instead, be a OCD house cleaner or be a total slob, wipe your feet before entering or track mud in, etc, etc, etc... At home do as you wish. Out in public be mindful and respectful of how your choices effect another's space. Is it so difficult to live by a golden rule anymore?! Why are most forums all across the net primarily polarized by the selfish, self absorbed neanderthals against those with a healthier, more balanced perspective of social ethics. There are the extremes on both sides as well as the apathetic but it's just not rocket science to live with some courtesy and respect for others despite one's views. Why, in America at least, does this seem to be so challenging with these spoiled, selfish, entitled fellow country persons?!
An estimated 50,000 people die a year from second hand smoke. Probably more.
God bless you SoulFlower,
You are the light in an otherwise dark world! We should be all on our hands and knees thanking you for taking us filthy littering smokers by the hand and showing us the error of our ways.
Breathing in second hand smoke sucks, but its not nearly as smelly as the obnoxious and arrogant exhalant coming from some people.
@soulflower
This is a goodpoint your making! (sarcasm)
We smokers litter the streets with cigarete butts and are acting like children becouse just like you non-smokers we all are equaly stupid. Just becouse you act like a model citizen doesnt mean that all non-smokers are the same as you.
And for the record I pay my hard earnd cash to these companies for a legal and wery pleasnt product that will kill me one day.
(unless I get to live till 70 or 80 now that would be a major false advertising I can't tolerate)
Interesting how many people are commenting on here, not about the documentary, or the information contained therein, but just to defend their love of smoking cigs. (Did you even watch the film before commenting?) Enjoy your disgusting smoker's cough and yellow teeth and leathery skin and all. But you can't blame nonsmokers for not holding your hand and showing you how to properly dispose of your trash. If you think you're adult enough to make your own decision to smoke, then please take responsibility for disposing of your butts appropriately. "YOU made us smoke outside, and YOU didn't supply us with ashtrays." Very mature. I throw my garbage in an appropriate trash receptacle. What's so hard about that?
What gets me is the warnings on tobacco products "Smoking CAUSES gangrene; Smoking CAUSES heart failure; Smoking CAUSES blindness" Etc., (the capitals are mine) These are lies, damn lies! It would be more honest to say "Smoking MAY cause ...etc"
I, and many of my contempory friends and family have been smoking for 50+ years, NONE of them are blind, suffer gangrene, lung cancer or any of the other dread diseases so-called associated with smoking. In fact some of my acquaintances who have died early deaths had either never smoked or stopped many years ago.
Another thing gets me is (antismoking) people complaining about concentrations of cigatette butts outside buildings etc, Well my dears, you brought that on yourselves by forcing us to smoke outside and not supplying ashtrays!
Emma, I HAVE witnessed gangrene CAUSED by smoking, and emphysema and lung cancer. These people were all very close to me and their pain and suffering were horrible to watch. I don't think you realize the physiological affects of smoking, or you wouldn't be advertising your ignorance as you have!
the tobacco itself is not the issue ..tobacco i love it personally but yes the pesticides and the additives that cororations put in the product will harm you.. all in the name of bigger profits ..at the end of the day what i find is funny is that i not allowed to grow my own tobacco in australia is all been manipulatd very nicely
Smoke if you wish to do so, know the consequences, and go out to the street an inhale the fumes coming off the exhausts of the cars(do you know the consequences?), wear synthetic compounds, eat off plastic containers, be in contact with electromagnetic radiation (how about that one?), be free to die out of an unknown cause (hard to pick one out, is it?)
tobacco is probably the least of our concerns.
Imagine all this fuss about every thing that causes (did i mention cell phones, have a look into that one, if you dare) premature death among us.
We are doomed, may be rightly so
Another issue where ignorant,self righteous follow the sheep in front of them brainiacs can't seem to get to the truth of the matter.There are many ,many cases where lifetime smokers don't get lung cancer or cancer of any kind.How do you explain this,either you know for a fact it causes cancer or you don't.Once again you want it both ways,there is better proof mcdonalds causes obesity and horrible health issues.
How would you like to be told what you can or can't eat.This is next!Government has waaaayyy too much power now,all of you i@#$%& especially ANTHONY who is a blatant communist can't even spell capitalism, threatens show trials and hangings, similar to Nuremberg also a word this 25 yr old genius can't spell.
If you represent even a small percentage of American youth the states have had it.Young people used to worry about peoples rights and freedoms,now it seems all they want is to boss every one else around,God I hope i'm wrong,and the commenters here that think they have the right to tell me what to do in my own house are just a few i@#$%&* ex-hall monitors that got beat up in school too much.There can't be enough of them to be taken seriously,if so maybe its time for a few more beatings.Mind your own fn business.
If you buy tobacco here in Finland from a store you pay more than 100% taxes. So even if you die from lung cancer the chanses are you pay your own health care and above that.
Unlike alcohol which doesn't have such a high tax to pay up for the over all damage it does to the community.
People should be allowed to smoke but IMO schools should educate at a very early age the concequenses.
I personally used to smoke but I came to the conclusion that over all I don't like it so it wasn't very hard to quit. Also IMO saying if you smoke 2-3 packs or W/E you become a smoker for life is very over rated just looking at the statistics this documentary showed that most people start smoking young but many don't like it and stop early
I am 23 years old and I smoked my first cigarette 8 years ago. A year ago I took full body test, just to see if i have something. Believe it or not, healthy as a horse. If i want to smoke i will smoke. it`s my business.just as smoking is a habit, not smoking is a habit as well. what if the smokers formed anti non smokers groups? would you like that? what the hell is your problem? it's your way or the high way? is this what this is?i don`t go around blowing smoke at babies or other people, i simply enjoy a good cigarette. how is that your business? what does really bother you? the fact that tobacco companies kill people or that they are making a s@#$load of money and not listening to your wining? I SMOKE! F@#$%&* DEAL WITH IT AND GET A LIFE. And one last thing:100 mill people/year?! common...
@RANDY,
ok so never mind the health concerns, CIGARETTE SMOKE STINKS.
If you want to smoke go ahead, just do me a favor, DON'T EXHALE.
wow, candie and " a journalist " are pathetic.
you actually condone people becoming filthy rich selling people a product that is highly addictive and often results in the consumer coughing up blood and dieing of painful lung cancers...
you are simply unable to comprehend, its like you aren't as intelligent as me. its weird. you're weird. i would hate to be you.
@candie
You do not pay your own healthcare costs. Everyone pays smokers' healthcare costs.
No man is an island. Everything you do affects other people. Your children, your family, your community.
The "it's my business, not yours" and "i pay my own healthcare costs" are bull**** excuses, and cop-outs.
on for a while about products that you use and i don't that are killing me. I dont whine about any of it and put people down.There's just to many things that kill everyone and we are all guilty but to get on your high horse and say" blow your death in others faces????? .....Think about it. ( ps3 has limited amount of characthers allowed ,,,,two posts)
l"ve been a pack a day for 20 years, and remember when you could smoke every where. Should you be allowed to smoke in planes or grocery stores......I personally don't think so.......but because it stinks and irritating if there is enough smoke. There should be smoking and non smoking establishments ie; coffee shops/bars/restaraunts and people go where they want and respect the rules/people there. If i'm outside and you complain....get a life. When the ban started in Vancouver, B.C. places spent tons of money on new ventilation systems hoping to get around the law. There where air quaiity tests done inside and outside on the street and the air outside was worse yet the law stuck.Most of the complainers cry about the smoke yet they drive 4x4 SUV's only on pavement (where there's no snow) Talk on cell phones (all the waves probably aren't healthy for me seeing as they give you brain tumours......so i've heard. Take trips on airplanes (do you have any idea the pollutants one trip in a plane drops.....i could
I used to smoke. It was great. I even tried to smoke again after many years, but discovered I could no longer stand the smell. So, there is that...
However, I would never try and limit anyone else's right to smoke if they wanted to. My mother died a terrible death after smoking her entire life. I still have no problem with smoking.
In fact, as this country was practically built on the tobacco industry and the country repaid it by destroying it because people enjoyed the product despite the health risks, I find this whole debate distastful.
Think of all the people and families that were destroyed by the near abolishment of the tobacco farms perpertrated by the government. What region of the country did it hurt the most, financially? The South.
Our best international cash crop and we pissed it away for what? To save lives? Really? Do you really think that was the reason? Does that sound right given the recent (past 40 years, say) history of our government?
Finally, for the second hand smoke saber rattlers, I repeat what I have been saying since the 70's when the whiners first started crying about it, "no conclusive evidence..." Healthy human lungs are capable of repairing themselves after limited contact with a large variety of exotic, environmental pollutants. Casual contact with smoke, (like a night at a bar or restaraunt), can be expunged from the lungs overnight. If that wasn't true, then the human species, exposed to much greater airborne toxins over the millions of years of our evolution, would never have survived.
Repeated and constant inhaling of smoke? Deadly, of course, but still-- consider: my mother smoked from 12 years old to 67, three packs a day. Do you really think, despite what the anti-smoking lobby's "studies" show, that the occasional inhalation of diluted smoke is going to have an overall negative health effect on your body? Does that make sense to you, considering the amount of other pollutants you inhale every single day?
Smoke 'em if ya got 'em!
"healthy human lungs are capable of repairing themselves" why should they have to? because all the smokers dont care enough to spare their own lungs? ive smoked a pack a day since i was 11yrs old and would never expect a nonsmoker to inhale my toxins because im too weak to quit. to assume that because the world is full of pollutants that we likely cant escape means its ok to add to it out of selfish gratification is "distasteful"
candie
You sure do have the right to smoke an die but not the right to blow your death in others faces
Looks to me like the people who attack the tobacco companies wish to impose their morality on everyone… I smoke and I like it and if I want to die of cancer it’s my business. I pay my own healthcare costs and 650 a pack for the cigarette. Mind your own business.
A journalist
Hey Mr "A journalist" (that really is an original Alias) why don't you grow up and get off the payroll, humanity doesn't need the blight that the tobacco industry has become. I personally saw this documentary for what it was, and that is transparent truthful and highly detailed, a well rounded and balanced piece of film making.
I finally managed to quit smoking 2 years ago, I am now 25; I wish I had seen this film earlier. The Tobacco industry brings death untold suffering and misery to millions, it is a disgusting and merciless industry.
There should be a public trial and hangings, reserved for the industry's top dogs, just like the Nazis at Nurenberg (who on balance where probably less detrimental to society).
This is such trash! Unbelievable. "Based on the documents this is what I think happened"! "I think" has no place in serious journalism.
If she is interested in knowing why people smoke in the face of research stating negative health effects she should conduct a survey or put together some kind of experiment to test why, not tear through tobacco industry documents or ask anti-smoking groups.
Terrible, terrible journalism. She would have failed the program I went through and she would have been booted off any news source I know of.
People like this degrade journalism to further their own agendas.
When I went to college, students sat in the back of the lecture hall and smoked using little aluminum ashtrays (provided by the university). There were also people that were hired to give out free little sample packs on Fridays in the common area.
Can you imagine? Makes me mad to see how much thought went into scamming kids into smoking.
Good doc. Thumbs up.
Capatitalism such a wonderfully corruptible system. I think its had its day.