LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

No tears for Big Tobacco

PAULINE Throne (Letters, Feb. 16) said that proposed government lawsuits
against tobacco companies, of which any money acquired would go to help pay
for smoking-caused diseases, are ``ridiculous''' and that smokers should
take responsibility for their own actions.

While I agree, in part, with the latter statement, the rest of her letter is
misleading. ``No one . . . put that cigarette in anyone's mouth,'' she
writes. True, the physical act of smoking is voluntary, but the emotional
mindset that smoking is permissible -- even socially beneficial -- was put
in our heads long before we could independently discern ``helpful'' from
``harmful.'' Do you think all those cigarette ads are simply meant to spruce
up our billboards and magazines?

Everyone vaguely knows the harmful effects of smoking, printed in tiny
letters that are dwarfed by the accompanying cigarette ad. But do we fully
comprehend how dangerous smoking is? Heavy smokers who have become afflicted
with throat cancer, emphysema, or heart disease no doubt regret the day they
began smoking. In contrast, many potential and beginning smokers probably
don't even know what emphysema is.

Obviously, a smoker should not point a condemning finger at the tobacco
industry while lighting a cigarette with the other hand. But victims of
smoking also should not waste away while tobacco companies' pockets grow
heavy with stolen money.

Teresa Ko, San Jose

Smokers' responsibility

I do not smoke and have not done so for almost 14 years. Furthermore, I
previously had quit smoking, not once but twice, for over nine years before
resuming for short periods of time. Somehow, I cannot agree with any jury
awarding millions to a smoker who has that habit for 33 years (``S.F. jury
awards smoker millions,'' Page 1A, Feb. 11). Surely that individual should
be the one to accept most of the responsibility, not the producer/seller.

I first smoked a cigarette at the age of 4 when I told my older brothers
(who that day had swiped a package of my dad's Lucky Strikes), ``I'll tell
mom if you don't give me one.'' Well, I later told anyway. In later years
when I did smoke, it was my fault, not the fault of tobacco companies. No
one twisted my arm and said ``smoke or else.'' No one bought the cigarettes
for me. I quit smoking because I wanted to and that is the the same way I
started.

Let's stop suing when we and only we are responsible for our actions. If a
product is not good for you, then don't use it. If you do use the product,
then accept the consequences.

Al Johnson Mountain View