About all I can say to this is it is the silliest, most assanine reason not to establish controls on tobacco advertising that I have ever heard.

First and foremost, the tobacco industry is the only industry responsible for a half million deaths a year. If any others were just as guilty, then they, too, should be controlled.

Second, the government has already been involved in controlling advertising and with the people’s blessing. It is called, for one, truth in advertising. Other industries must be truthful in their ads and, if they are not, people have legal recourse.

Look at the controls we already have on, for example, the drug industry - legal drugs, that is, those used for medication. Not only is it extremely controlled already, the truth is demanded. And this includes OTC’s.

Tobacco ads, however, are extremely misleading and not truthful. To date, they have been exempt from stating the truth. If the industry were required to do so, they would have to show the truth of the serious damage their products do to the human body along with the non-esthetic side-effects such as stinking, staining, and burning holes in clothing and furniture.

Ads would be required to state nicotine is an extremely addictive drug, that the industry relies on misleading young people and doing all they can to get them started and addicted.

Young people are the future customers for the owners to continue accumulating wealth at the cost of future millions of people’s health, even their lives.

In short, the industry would have to state - smoking sucks along with there being nothing cool about a most distasteful habit, and that no person should deliberately expose themselves to the dangers, including various cancers, heart problems, and multiple other organ conditions, many of which could result in premature death.