Peddling Poison: The Tobacco Industry and Kids

(Hardback)

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The social acceptance of tobacco use obscures the fact that it is the single greatest preventable cause of death in the U.S., and approximately 80 per cent of those who use tobacco products began using them before the age of 18. Indeed, tobacco companies in the past routinely targeted youth in their marketing and advertising, hoping to hook kids young and keep them with their original brand. Snell explores the tobacco industry's campaign to attract youth smokers and provides an overview of the Food and Drug Administration's investigation of the tobacco industry, which revealed the industry's deceptions and their specific intent to target youth. As a result, many groups and programmes have sprung up to educate youths about the deadly nature of tobacco addiction and the industry's marketing strategies. Many U.S. states have developed comprehensive programmes that have resulted in a substantial decline in youth tobacco use. While national efforts at tobacco regulation have largely failed, local tobacco control efforts have mostly been successful. Snell argues that the future of youth tobacco policy depends on the continued funding of tobacco prevention programmes, and shows how the tobacco industry is shifting its marketing approach to minority populations and developing nations. Parents, teens, teachers, and community and policy leaders will find here an engaging, thoughtful, and informative discussion of this important problem.

Reviews

[S]nell has compiled a well-organized, concise overview of the issues surrounding the US tobacco industry's interest in young consumers. After an introduction in which he presents statistics on teen smoking and details the efforts of tobacco companies to induce young people to smoke, Snell devotes most of the book to describing community and government efforts to combat the industry's campaign. This discussion focuses on the FDA's investigation of the tobacco industry in the 1990s, individual and class action lawsuits over the past 50 years, and anti-smoking programs and organizations that Snell sees as models. Not all of the events he chronicles--such as the lawsuits--pertain directly to youth, but the author consistently relates this information back to the subject of children by revealing the impact such events had on the fight against adolescent smoking. Snell does not claim to be even-handed, and he is not; the tobacco industry is clearly the villain in this story. Nevertheless, he does a fine job of presenting the challenges and successes of those who seek to protect the young against the dangers of tobacco. Recommended. General and undergraduate collections. * Choice *

Author Bio

Clete Snell is Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Prairie View A&M University. He teaches Criminology, Delinquency Theory, Juvenile Justice, and Criminal Justice courses. He has published several journal articles.