PERSPECTIVES
Commentaries
Tobacco prohibition: doing the unthinkable
Correspondence to:
Dr Stan Shatenstein, GLOBALink News and Information Monitoring Initiative, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3W 3A8; shatensteins@sympatico.ca
Received 13 November 2008
Accepted 13 November 2008
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
A decade ago, I challenged an American Medical Association/British Medical Association proposal to gradually eliminate nicotine in cigarettes (Tob Control 1999;8:106–9). Similar concerns force me to disagree with Richard Daynard’s call for a ban on cigarettes themselves.
A cigarette-free world is "a consummation devoutly to be wished", but Daynard severely underplays the smuggling angle and minimises cigarettes’ unmatched appeal as nicotine delivery devices. Forcing large numbers of unwilling smokers to quit is a political and social non-starter.
The United States has failed to ratify the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and mandates pathetic warnings. A total ban is a huge stretch, but I believe Peter Hanauer errs in arguing we can’t tell people what to do—that’s why we legislate. Cigarettes warrant a ban, but Hanauer’s right on the measure’s impracticability.
I stated in 1999 that cigarettes need the kind of "green glow" that would make even
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
