Let me say first, in talking to young people about tobacco I often describe my early years. I tell them that I am one of the few people I have ever known who used to actually smoke in the shower. And to do that you have to be very addicted and you have to be very tall. Times changed for me but not for everyone, which is why we are having this special day. In a very real sense, the core of civilization by definition is the habit of civility.
Civilization is measured by how people treat each other.
It's the way we measure countries, institutions, individuals and companies. They treat them as if their lives were unimportant or at least not as important as the profit for the executives. It's been said that if you don't work on important problems it's not likely that you will do important work. Well few problems are as important to the health of the world as tobacco. We have heard repeatedly this morning that tobacco is now the single most lethal agent in the world.