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- LETTERS, Page 8Smoke in the East
-
- I was enraged to read that U.S. cigarette manufacturers are
- campaigning to win wider markets for their products in Asia
- (BUSINESS, Oct. 2). To them profits are more important than
- human health. For the tobacco industry to assume that it can do
- abroad what it can't do at home (shameless marketing aimed at
- the young, for example) is blatant arrogance.
-
- Scott Zona Upland, Calif.
-
- Exporting cigarettes is good business for America; there is
- no reason we should be prohibited from doing so. Asians have
- been smoking for decades; we are only offering variety in their
- habit. If the Asians made tobacco smoking illegal, that would
- be a different situation. But as long as it is legal, the
- decision is up to the smokers. The Asians are just afraid of
- American supremacy in the tobacco industries.
-
- Pat Monohan Florence, Ky.
-
- The U.S. tobacco companies have engaged in an aggressive
- marketing and advertising campaign in Far East countries,
- leaving millions of Asians with the impression that America as
- a country doesn't care. Many Asians are only dimly aware of the
- health dangers of smoking. The U.S. should stop pressuring
- foreign governments to import American cigarettes, and show the
- world that we do care.
-
- Patrick Reynolds, President Foundation for a Smokefree
- America Los Angeles
-