Or, from another angle, perhaps the protection of the young is a serious enough reason to override any inconvenience caused by it to their parents and other adults. On the other hand, as regards manufacturers and dealers, by distributing tobacco products and information about them in a way that encourages smoking among minors, they are inflicting harm on those of the young who start or continue smoking because of their commercial efforts. Protecting the rights of children Children are of particular importance. The 1959 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child and the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child outline clear global concerns for the health and well-being of children. They have the right to grow up in an atmosphere which is most conducive to health.
Governments have a responsibility to implement such policy.
By eliminating existing powerful and pervasive commercial messages encouraging smoking, individuals will be able to make choices about smoking based on more relev-ant and accurate information. Far from experiencing freedom of speech, former employees have been pressured by industry to suppress their evidence and views on the knowledge and behaviour of their former employers. Other instances of censorship by tobacco companies include pressures on famous athletes to prevent them from promoting non-smoking messages. Democracy recognizes and respects the ability of each individual person to assimilate information and to make well-informed choices. Advertising is also the voice of free enterprise.