In a 10 page paper the writer discusses how after much denial, the tobacco industry has finally admitted that nicotine does, in fact, kill people. Now their interests lie in protecting themselves from further litigation by proposing a settlement to gain the legal protection of the federal government. The writer reviews the proposal and interprets the future outcome on both the industry and the general public. Bibliography lists 14 sources.
Name of Research Paper File: D0_Tobacset.doc
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
(Frankel B04). Whether or not you smoke makes no difference as to your potential for contracting any one of the vile diseases associated with smoking: emphysema, atherosclerosis, coronary
heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (American Heart Association cigcvd.html) and a multitude of cancers, including lung, throat and tongue. To bring the
point home, half million a year people die each year from cigarette-related causes (Whelan 77), with 37,000 to 40,000 of those dying as a result of secondhand smoke (American Heart
Association cigcvd.html). A staggering $50 billion dollars is estimated to be the amount of associated health care costs. As a result, myriad
law suits have been filed -- and some have been won -- against cigarette manufacturers, easily the largest, most powerful companies in the world. And now that new precedents
have been set regarding how well the public actually can play hardball, these companies want to change the rules. Enter the Tobacco Settlement Proposal.
Tobacco companies are in the business of "peddling nicotine and getting lots of their customers addicted" (Nightly Business Report PG). Now they are running scared, because the
public is fighting back -- and fighting back hard. In an attempt to protect themselves, the tobacco companies have devised a way to put the U.S. government snuggly in
their back pockets for future protection. A clear case of carrot dangling, the companies have proposed billions of dollars to fall into the governments hands -- without their having
to raise taxes -- in exchange for legal asylum within the comforting congressional cradle. In a nutshell, the tobacco industry is finally admitting -- in its own roundabout way