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Tobacco firm Philip Morris calls for ban on cigarettes within decade:
The chief executive of tobacco business Philip Morris International has called on the UK government to ban cigarettes within a decade, in a move that would outlaw its own Marlboro brand.
Jacek Olczak said the company could “see the world without cigarettes … and actually, the sooner it happens, the better it is for everyone.” Cigarettes should be treated like petrol cars, the sale of which is due to be banned from 2030, he said.
Government action would end the confusion felt by smokers, some of whom still thought the “alternatives are worse than cigarettes”, Olczak told the Sunday Telegraph. “Give them a choice of smoke-free alternatives … with the right regulation and information it can happen 10 years from now in some countries. You can solve the problem once and forever.”
Philip Morris International (PMI) recently said it wanted half its turnover to come from non-smoking products as it morphs into a “healthcare and wellness company” with executive pay tied to its new mission to “unsmoke the world” by phasing out cigarettes.
Nonetheless the company has come under fire from anti-smoking campaigners who accused it of hypocrisy after it launched a £1bn takeover bid for Vectura, a British pharmacy company that makes asthma inhalers.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Monday July 26 2021, @09:38PM (6 children)
OK, I'll readily admit that the world would be a better place without tobacco. If it had never been discovered, we would be better off. But - we have tobacco.
So, they're going to ban the stuff? Oh boy, oh boy! Back alley meetings to buy a bag of tobacco for $20, 50, $100. Ready-rolled cigs $10, a whole pack for $200. And, if someone snitches, the cops roll up and start shooting at anyone who resists and/or tries to escape. If captured (alive) and convicted, 2 years in the pen for anything over an ounce, plus 2 years for each cigarette.
When does man figure out that prohibition just doesn't work?
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 26 2021, @09:51PM
Every law is enforced with the threat of state violence.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 26 2021, @10:00PM
Beating down the black man for smoking weed is unpopular these days. Now we can beat up all the poors and arrest them for smoking those dirty cancer sticks!
(Score: 4, Insightful) by hendrikboom on Monday July 26 2021, @10:00PM (2 children)
If the price of tobacco skyrockets, vaping will be a cheaper alternative. Market prices will deal with the tobacco black market.
(Score: 2) by shortscreen on Tuesday July 27 2021, @03:49AM (1 child)
Except that vaping is already in the legal crosshairs as well. There've been calls to ban e-cig products and US states have passed bans against 'flavored' vape juice.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Tuesday July 27 2021, @10:56AM
And it appears that some, but not all, of the solvents used in vaping fluids have nasty side effects of their own. It's time for regulation, not banning.
(Score: 2) by epitaxial on Tuesday July 27 2021, @12:37PM
Might as well smoke the legal weed if that happens. It doesn't cause cancer either.