Doctors report smoking is bad for anyone's health.
Government officials leap to their soap boxes to talk about how they won't let the American people be hurt. But the government spends millions to make sure tobacco farmers don't suffer financial losses. While the debates are waged, millions are spent to educate the public about the problems of smoking while the tobacco companies spend even more money to make their cases. John Banzhaf, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health, has seen some changes in the area of medical costs created by recent lawsuits. Victories in those legal battles are designed to help shift high costs from non-smokers to smokers in the form of higher taxes on the products or higher health insurance premiums for smokers.