Rusty Saber: Evil influence of Big Tobacco overrated

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I'm really confused about a lot of things. For instance, I'm confused about the lawsuits against "Big Tobacco" by victims who claim they didn't know smoking was hazardous to their health. Forget that warning labels have appeared on cigarette packs for more than 30 years.|ret||ret||tab|

I once was a smoker, but I quit when, in a flash, I realized I was smoking myself to death. I quit. It was my fault that I smoked, not Big Tobacco or anybody else. I have no love for the tobacco companies, however, I wouldn't sue because I knowingly used their product. |ret||ret||tab|

I'm confused! State governments are receiving billions of dollars from lawsuits against tobacco companies for damages to people who suffered from years of smoking. |ret||ret||tab|

Why have governments taxed the fire (pun intended) out of these deadly cigarettes? Why didn't they ban cigarettes? Now, I'm really confused. New public health programs are being created to be funded by, you guessed it, new cigarette taxes. For these programs to work, people must continue to smoke. I'm confused!|ret||ret||tab|

My confusion doesn't end with tobacco. I'm confused by nutrition issues. Unless you have been in a protracted trance perhaps brought on by excessive smoking you have read reports that Americans are grossly overweight, nay, obese. |ret||ret||tab|

Fast food is the norm for too many people. We take on high-fat and calorie-rich meals such as double or triple cheeseburgers, fries and milkshakes. By the way, when you cook hamburgers at home, do you put two or three patties on a bun? I'll bet you don't. Why order them at fast food restaurants?|ret||ret||tab|

It isn't just cheeseburgers. Other sandwiches are equally greasy, along with deep-fried fish and chicken, pizza, tacos, french fries, onion rings. You name it, and if it's greasy, doughy or otherwise unhealthy, we love it.|ret||ret||tab|

It's probably true that far too many Americans are junk food eating, potato chip munching, beer swilling couch potatoes whose most demanding physical activity may be changing channels on the TV remote. Like cigarette smoking, such diets are a health hazard. |ret||ret||tab|

Sadly, a recent report says many children are overweight and have cholesterol-clogged arteries, a condition once found only in much older people. It figures; their taste buds are introduced to high cholesterol foods early in life. Like their adult counterparts, they eat too much.|ret||ret||tab|

Will the fast food industry become the next Big Tobacco? Perhaps Big Grease? Will the government get involved? Will junk food ads be banned from TV and radio? Will we see warning labels on pizzas and Big Macs? Will junk food eaters take Big Grease to court because they didn't know how dangerous junk food was? Will taxes drive up the price of a Whopper to $10? |ret||ret||tab|

I'm confused!|ret||ret||tab|

Americans are too fat. But, wait. We continue to hear that many Americans are too thin, hence undernourished. I'm confused. Are we too fat and too thin? Right. |ret||ret||tab|

By the way, men, you're off the hook. Only women are the victims here. It's the fault of skinny fashion models who are causing young girls to starve themselves to emulate them. |ret||ret||tab|

Calvin Klein TV ads show emaciated, wide-eyed little girls who look like something from the latest sequel of "Night of the Living Dead." |ret||ret||tab|

Role models for young girls, actresses Calista Flockhart of "Ally McBeal" and Lara Flynn Boyle of "The Practice" are so thin that if they stand sideways, they will be counted absent. Being too skinny, aka undernourished, is probably a health hazard. |ret||ret||tab|

However, the recent claim by researchers that Miss America is too skinny and undernourished is a bit much. |ret||ret||tab|

I'm not a fan of the Miss America Pageant, but "too skinny" isn't a term I would use to describe what little I have seen of the contestants.|ret||ret||tab|

According to the researchers, who probably need to get a life, Miss America contestants are undernourished because their body mass index (BMI) is too low. No, BMI isn't a German car, it's a person's weight divided by height. Miss America looks athletic and healthy to me. I would assume that exercise will also lower the BMI. |ret||ret||tab|

Miss America notwithstanding, being too thin and too fat are both health problems. Will we see warning labels on tofu and diet soft drinks? Will the low-fat diet foods industry, let's call it, Big Slim, be sued and heavily taxed just like Big Grease? |ret||ret||tab|

I don't know, I'm confused ...|ret||ret||tab|

(Joe McAdoo is former chairman of the communication department at Drury University and a Springfield public relations consultant.)[[In-content Ad]]