Health statistics depressing with increased access to health care and no change in under five mortality and life expectancy goes down. Childhood mortality is only just below the highest rate in Sierra Leone. By comparison Australia is 4.4. Life expectancy is also low with Afghanistan in the bottom 10. Interestingly most of the shortest life expectancies are in Africa.
British American Tobacco has been accused of trying to promote their products to young people in a number of African countries in manners inconsistent with their marketing policy. Who would have thought that they would provide dispensers to sell single cigarettes, promote rock concerts and paint shops the colour of their tobacco brands. We had no idea we hear the marketing manager say. Bullshit I say. What hypocrisy.
These are large profitable companies with large marketing budgets. Anything to get you hooked early. Why are these practices allowed in some countries at a time when cigarettes are being banned in others. Many of these countries have terrible health statistics and low life expectancy. Nothing like a cigarette addiction to add to that misery and to the bottom line of companies such as British American Tobacco
Not for me. I always felt sick after a puff from a joint. Tobacco always did that to me. A great deterrent.
Personally I like the ban in public places. I can remember my boss in Singapore was a chain smoker and you had to clear the air when you walked into his office. When we moved to the 32nd floor of Suntec City, which was a smoke free building, he was threatened with arrest when he lit up in his office on the weekend. Not much fun to be a smoker nowadays. That said, hooking young people in poorer countries to replace your shrinking market in more progressive countries seems very underhand.
