>>16503980 (pb)

'lies, damned lies, and 400,000 tobacco-related deaths"

https://www.heartland.org/_template-assets/documents/publications/1555.pdf

TRUrH WASAN EARLYVlCTwt in the barrle against tobacco. Thebiglie.repeatedadnnuseaminanti-tobaccocircles,isthat smoking causesmore than 400.000 premature deaths each year in the United States.That mantra is the principal justification

for all manner of tobacco regulations and legislation. not t” mention lawsuits by dozens of states for Medicaid recovery, class actions by seventy-five to eighty union health funds. sim- ilar litigation by thirty-five Blue Cross plans, twenty-four class suits by smukers who are not yet ill, sixty class actions by allegedly ill smokers, five hundred suits for damagesfrom sec- ondhand smoke, and health-related litigation by twelve cities arid counties–an explosion of adjudication never before expe- rienced in this country or elsewhere.

. The war on smoking started with a kernel of truth-that cig- arcttes are a high risk factor for lung cancer-but has grow’n into a monster of deceit and greed, eroding the credibility of government and subverting the rule of law. Junk science has replaced honest science and propaganda parades as fact. Our legislators and judges, in need of dispassionate analysis, are instead smothered by an avalanche of statistics-tendentious, inadequately documented, and unchecked by even rudimentary notious of objectivity. Meanwhile, Americans are indoctrinat- ed by health “professionals” bent on imposing their lifestyle choicesontherestofusandbrainwashedbypoliticians eager to tap the deep pockets of a pariah industry.

The aim of this paper is t” dissect the granddaddy of all tobacco lies-that smoking causes400,000 deaths each year. To set the stage. let’s look at two of the many exaggerations, misstatements, and outright fabrications that have dominated the tobacco debate from the outset.