Dan Rather
FOR THOSE who wonder why the news media do not report more good news, your reporter is happy to offer the following: When spring arrives this year, it looks as if a lot more people will be able to breathe in the fresh air clearly, and actually smell it, too. More than at any point since 1951. Because according to a report by the National Association of Attorneys-General, cigarette sales in the United States fell last year to their lowest point in 55 years.
The reasons for this downturn, the culmination of a multi-year trend, are many. One is the significant erosion in the social acceptability of smoking. Another is the straightforward fact that every year leaves fewer and fewer places where one can actually smoke - most workplaces are out, as are public buildings, as are restaurants and bars in some states. The high taxes that most states and some municipalities place on cigarette sales cannot be overlooked either, as they increase the economic incentive to kick the habit. And last but not least there is the work of the attorneys-general themselves.
In 1998, a $206 billion agreement - the Master Settlement Agreement - was arrived at between the states and the nation's biggest tobacco companies. The agreement has led to sharp restrictions on the marketing and sale of cigarettes, and it has funded a powerful and almost painfully blunt anti-smoking advertising campaign -- with ads to make even the most hardened smoker wince.
If the decline in smoking among adults is good news, the even sharper drop in the percentage of high-school students who light up is great news, as studies and common sense show that most people who get hooked on tobacco first take up the habit when they are young. A teenager's bow to peer pressure or attempt to look cool or 'adult' turns into a lifelong (or lifeshort, as the case may be) habit.
MIXED RESULTS
In a country where the war on drugs in its various incarnations through the decades has met with mixed results at best, this is a genuine success story in which the American government and the American people can take justifiable pride. But the story isn't over, and some anti-smoking advocates say more resources need to be devoted to anti-smoking efforts, citing a decline in such spending during the past few years. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control calls smoking the leading preventable cause of death in this country, with well over 400,000 people dying each year from smoking-related illnesses. Think about that number for a moment, and absorb it, because it's a figure that puts smoking truly in a league of its own, dwarfing the figures for automobile fatalities, deaths from alcohol or other drugs, AIDS or anything else.
You might also want to consider that, even with declines, more than 300 billion cigarettes were sold in the U.S. in 2005 -- along with lingering concerns that promotional discounts on cigarettes and the opportunity to buy cigarettes online mean that kids remain at risk as potential smokers.
Finally, you might want to think about this: To make up for the drop in U.S. smokers, tobacco companies have been stepping up their efforts to market cigarettes in Third World countries, where public health campaigns are often far less extensive and citizens not as educated about the risks of smoking. According to a 2005 Harvard University study, this marketing targets women, in particular.
Plenty of good people make a living growing tobacco in this country -- this is not about them. This is about the vastly greater number of people who are dying because they have smoked. And any progress made in bringing that number down -- is good news.
Dan Rather is a United States television broadcaster.
