Barbour's stand against tobacco a smokescreen

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February 21, 2006

Anonymous The Meridian Star Tue Feb 21, 2006, 06:09 AM CST

Well, it looks as though once again Haley Barbour is attempting to present himself as a "guy that really cares about Mississippi's kids" ("A 'constitutional' anti-tobacco plan," Sunday, Feb. 19). Sorry, Mr. Barbour, but your column wreaks of hypocrisy.

You state that "Mississippi needs a new comprehensive approach to fighting tobacco and the diseases it causes" and yet you vetoed the cigarette/grocery tax bill — the very bill that just might encourage a lot of folks to stop smoking as well as discourage a lot of them from starting. Where's the logic in that?

You go on to state that "you would appropriate $5 million to the Mississippi Department of Health for a coordinated advertising campaign to educate our children about the health risks of tobacco use." What about the health risks imposed upon them from other smokers? Do you have any idea how many thousands of Mississippi's children are exposed to secondhand smoke in their homes every day? Have you never pulled alongside another vehicle at an intersection and noticed children trapped inside with adults just puffing away on a cancer stick and all the while with the windows rolled up?

These children suffer from more ear infections, upper respiratory infections, decreased lung function and asthma attacks as well as increased likelihood of bronchitis and pneumonia. (Don't even get me started on the effects of secondhand smoke on the unborn.)

It's a known fact that children emulate what they see at home, and the issue of smoking is no different. And while children should most definitely be discouraged from starting to smoke, they would be better served if the adults in their lives stopped smoking.

While I agree that the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi should have to provide a detailed accounting of how the $20 million is spent, I completely disagree with your attempt to get the money derailed into a general fund and distributed in a way that will — how shall I say — make you look good.

I think this is just an attempt on your part to be seen as a friend to the huddled masses. But guess what? You are no friend when the bodies of the huddled masses are riddled with the disease-causing carcinogens that your Big Tobacco buddies are finding so easy to peddle on our streets every day because of an 18-cents-per-pack tobacco tax!

Alice Neal

Meridian

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