[Cerek the Barbaric]

I saw another one of the ads against the tobacco industry the other night, and I started thinking about who is really to blame for tobacco related deaths now.

Certainly, the tobacco industry bears an undeniable portion of guilt. They deliberately and methodically researched ways to make their product addictive. But the relatively new media of the television did a lot to reinforce the positive aspects of smoking in the 1950's. My parents grew up in that generation, and as one of my uncle's said, "Smoking was a way of life" during that time period. It was glamourized in movies, on TV shows, and in commercials. If you have an opportunity to watch any sitcoms from the 1960's, take note of how many characters (especially male leads) are also smokers.

So certainly there is some responsibility relegated to the tobacco industry for their advertising methods and the research to add addictive properties to their cigarettes during that time period.

However, I don't feel that same argument is applicable today. Every single member here has grown up being informed of the DANGERS of smoking as opposed to the glamor it represents. Cigarette ads were banned from TV in America in the 1970's, the Surgeon General warned of the dangers of cigarette smoking repeatedly throughout the 80's, and the 1990's brought the first real "anti-smoking" campaign to TV and other advertising media.

My point is this, NOBODY can claim to be ignorant of the dangers of smoking now. It is well documented and reinforced on an almost daily basis. So who bears the responsibility for new smokers who take up the habit despite being informed of the dangers it entails?

It is easy to blame the tobacco industry corporations. One of the current mantras used against them is that they are the only corporations that manufacture a product that will kill the customer when it is used correctly.

That is true to a degree, but cigarettes don't kill every person that smokes. And nobody forces new customers to start buying their products. In the end, the choice - and a large part of the responsibility - also has to lie with the smoker themselves.

So, what do you think? Is the tobacco industry completely at fault, or do smokers have to accept responsibility for thier own actions?