When Eastern Europe opened up, Western cigarette manufacturers moved swiftly to capture the market. They not only open new plants but also poured money into local communities. Governments have become dependent on tobacco money, which now flows into schools, student scholarship programs, police and fire brigades, the Red Cross, even anti-smoking programs. Tobacco companies say this is simply good corporate citizenship. Critics say at best it's an attempt to buy influence and at worst it is veiled marketing to the most vulnerable in society.
Smoking is an adult habit.
The campaign was a spectacular failure. On the streets of Mexico City a young smoker. Anti-smoking activists charge tobacco companies are targeting children in the developing world. In Hungary today more than 40 percent of adults smoke cigarettes. The government is now struggling to fund health services burdened with a 150 percent increase in lung cancer cases among men and a 200 percent increase for women.