Double standard on tobacco

To the editor:As I read about the planned statewide study of tobacco use, I wondered in amazement at our nation's double standard. Regardless of how many studies are done, we still have the manufactured products as the root of not only addictions, but a multitude of health problems as well. Cigarette packages warn that their contents damage one's health, yet tobacco companies are free to manufacture their deadly products, addicting and killing millions annually.

We already know that toxic, addictive and carcinogenic substances are in the cigarettes these companies produce. Don't we have enough power in our state governments to impose regulations on these companies to remove these toxic substances?

Cigarette companies are committing assisted suicide, and we are tiptoeing around the root of the problem while people addicted to these products are literally killing themselves. Most do not want to or cannot stop smoking. They are already addicted, and these companies couldn't care less.

Our courts let them off with a slap or pat on the back. It is all about big business and money. Where is common sense and wisdom? These companies should be forced to take every poisonous and addictive substance out of their products. It would be one thing for Americans to smoke for their pleasure, but it is another altogether for them to be forced to become addicted by the deceptions of Big Tobacco. Stop working on studies and do something about it. These products are deadly, and all of us know it. Take care of the root of the problem.

LINDA SCHRECKENBERG, Marble Hill, Mo.