Progymasmata
Cigarettes Should be Illegal
In today's modern world, we have discovered many things about the workings of our bodies which were know known just a few decades ago. The human genome has been mapped, making it possible to engineer plants, and design medications for specific diseases. The need for a balance between exercise, food intake, and the kind of foods has been clearly documented. Products which were glamorized just a few decades ago have been targeted for extinction by consumer groups. As medical data has accumulated, mountains of evidence demonstrate that these products, which once were considered a part of a socially elite lifestyle, are dangerous, if not deadly, to human life. One such product is the cigarette.
The production and use of cigarettes have been a part of the American culture since we discovered the plants...
Once the dried and shredded leaves were shipped to the home land in
Europe, the tobacco business became big enterprise, and southern
plantations, built in the backs of the poor and slaves, became a multi-national enterprise. Companies and fortunes were built trading tobacco products. In the early 20th century, as Hollywood discovered the
power of
mass media, actors and actresses were paid additional stipends to include the small white accessories in their films. When America saw the rich and famous sucking on cigarettes, demand for the products increased. At the time, nothing was known about the addictive nature of nicotine, or the cancerous tendencies of tobacco smoke. What continued to be important those who manufactured and sold tobacco products was that people like them, and purchased them at a significant profit.
But can a
society which calls itself moral and just continue to exploit the desires of its citizens, and continue to make profit on a product which is harmful to those who use it? In the 1970's,…
