THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 16, 1996 TAG: 9604160003
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 35 lines
Cigars, cigarettes, cigarillo - nicotine-delivery systems hazardous to one's health. The recent targeting of female smokers by the cigar industry is just another example of tobacco manufacturers glamorizing a deadly addiction.
Cigars are not a ``safe'' alternative to cigarettes. Overall cancer death rates for men who smoke cigars are 34 percent higher than cancer death rates among nonsmokers. Cigar smokers have higher death rates from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and are four to 10 times more likely to die from laryngeal, oral and esophageal cancers than nonsmokers.
Unlike cigarettes and smokeless-tobacco products, cigar manufacturers are not required to display health warnings on cigar packages. Neither are they required to submit to the federal government a list of ingredients added to tobacco in the manufacture of cigars.
Creating the illusion that cigar smoking is one of the finer pleasures of life, or that is it a trendy pastime, obscures the fact that cigars pose a serious health risk. Cigarettes and cigars are major sources of secondhand smoke, both of them cause cancer and both of them are addictive.
MARY ELLA DOUGLAS
Southeast area director
American Lung Association of Virginia
Norfolk, April 6, 1996 by CNB