TOBACCO ADVERTISING

Targeting kids worldwide

I am glad for the current movement to restrict
tobacco smoking and applaud the recent revelations
concerning the coverup by the major companies of the
health hazards they have long known about. However,
the general public is not aware that the tobacco com
panies are compensating for their losses in this country
by pushing vigorously their advertising in other coun
tries. Their targets are the youth, especially Asia.
Early last year the National Catholic Reporter pub
lished an article exposing this immoral practice. I quote:
"It is widely known that cigarettes lead to the deaths of
some 5000,000 people in the United States each year.
According to estimates, tobacco use, now rising quickly,
kills another 2.5 million people worldwide each year...
With pressure gradually growing to curtail cigarette
smoking in the United States, the tobacco companies,
including the Philip Morris Co., The British American
Tobacco Co. with the help of U.S. govern
ment officials have been developing new markets for
tobacco export. They are targeting Asia in particular."
The article quoted above or one like it was con
densed in the Readers' Digest, I believe, but I have
not been able to locate it.
Americans should be ashamed that we are the
drug dealers profiting from the promotion of this
deathdealing habit. How can we complain about
those who import cocaine and marijuana when we
are pushing the export of tobacco?

JOHN H. SCHLOSSER
Stanwood