Far from having a major positive impact on public health, the anti camp believes, the whole e-cigarette phenomenon is really about encouraging "dual use" of e-cigarettes and tobacco, boosting tobacco companies' profits at a time when sales in the developed world are falling fast, as well as buying them some much-needed credibility.
Last year federal and state legislators (in 18 states) rounded up the usual suspects, boosting tobacco taxes as much as $1 per cigarette pack, while five states raised alcohol taxes.
The package of six bills, and a separate measure to boost the tobacco tax by $2 per pack, are supported by a coalition called Save Lives California that includes the California Medical Assn., the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Assn.
Between 2003 and 2004, Altria boosted international tobacco sales by 18.4%, compared with a 3% increase in U.S. tobacco sales, the company said.
Wide support for boosting the tobacco tax has held steady for a decade.
"Tobacco is tobacco is tobacco.
Even the journal's publisher, the British Medical Association, issued a statement condemning the study, saying its methodology was "fundamentally flawed".Still, it was a boost to the beleaguered tobacco firms, as was Nicole Kidman's decision to defy the anti-smoking brigade and light up before the cameras at the Cannes film festival this week.
It's hard to imagine a Democratic politician boasting about her ability to boost wages at a tobacco giant, for instance.
The commissioner of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association, John Smith, said the college rodeo circuit valued the boost it got from smokeless tobacco.
