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Ethical Considerations in the Prevention of Smoking in Adults and Children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Richard M. Gilbert
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Extract

In a recent issue of MEDICOLEGAL NEWS, Christoffel and Stein reviewed and lamented the “lack of legislative action” against smoking, and blamed the “political and economic strength of the tobacco industry” for “this failure” to protect the public from the costs attributable to death, disease, and disability associated with cigarette smoking, described as the “primary preventable health risk” in the United States. An editorial rebuttal by Matthews noted that cigarette use may have other causes than the tobacco industry, that there may be little consensus as to the need to condemn smoking, and that “moral entrepreneurs” such as Christoffel and Stein could “buoy their spirits” by confining themselves initially to the business of protecting non-smokers from the consequences of people smoking in their presence.

Type
Article
Information
Medicolegal News , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , June 1980 , pp. 4 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 1980

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References

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