Our agency is a social services agency, not a health-related one. Why take a position against tobacco companies and reject funding?
All agencies are touched in some way by the overall health of the community in which it operates. Nicotine addiction and the use of tobacco products has created a health crisis with significant social repercussions on many levels. Every day there are about 1,200 smoking related deaths in the United States; more than are caused by AIDS, tuberculosis, traffic accidents, murder and suicide combined. The financial impact of tobacco-related death and disease is extensive, affecting workforce productivity, tax revenue, and ultimately community buying power. Across the U.S. tobacco related illness creates a need for costly hospital visits and social services totaling $150 billion. Tobacco companies have misled the public for years about the “safety” of their products. For years they claimed to not know about the addictiveness of nicotine in their products. Recently, tobacco companies have been forced to disclose that they lied, and were aware that nicotine is addictive. Internal tobacco indus
Related Questions
- Are advertisements and health claims by tobacco companies approved by a government agency such as the Food and Drug Administration?
- Our agency is a social services agency, not a health-related one. Why take a position against tobacco companies and reject funding?
- Our agency already has a verbal policy to refuse any tobacco company sponsorship and funding. Why do we need a written policy?
