LETTER: Bookmark research
Apr 7, 2010 at 3:17 AM
I was reading on one of the bookmarks at the Bellevue Library about the facts about tobacco. I was shocked to find out cigarettes contain ammonia and arsenic. How is it possible that they can sell to the public something that contains ammonia and arsenic? Doesn't that constitute endangering the public? When there are recalls about other food products that can endanger your health, they have to pull it off the shelf. I went on the cigarettes Web site and found out there are 599 chemicals added to cigarettes. When they are burned it created more than 4,000 chemical compounds.
The fact sheet on the bookmark also says more people die from smoking related illnesses than from AIDS, car accidents, illegal drugs, murders and suicides combines. One third of all new smokers will eventually died from tobacco use. That nicotine is more addictive than cocaine and heroin. That 53,000 people every year die from second-hand smoke. These are facts that you heard before. How about you lose 11 minutes of life for every cigarette you smoke and an average of 14 years off your life span. Is it worth it for a puff of smoke?
If they are as addictive as cocaine and heroin and can make you sick and cause death, how can they keep on producing them? How about the FDA banning these chemicals that are so addictive and dangerous. How about making them pay for all the health problems they are causing instead of ads about not smoking. Let them pay into the health care system and build health care clinics.