Sue big tobacco for littering the planet

created by boone

(idea) by boone (4.9 y) (print) ? (I like it!) 1 C! Thu Sep 28 2000 at 20:54:53

All of these states have sued big tobacco companies and won these huge judgements for billions of dollars. Presumably this was for the states having to pay for the medical bills of sick smokers. So the tobacco companies paid out a lot of money...maybe some of this went to covering medical bills...I don't know. Some of it went to things like anti-smoking commercials for kids and yikes, some of it even paid to subsidize tobacco farmers!

Since I make it my business to avoid people who smoke whenever I can, I don't concern myself as much with the health hazards. But what pisses me off to no end is all of the litter! There is nary a place in this country where you can walk around and not find a cigarette butt on the ground. Roadsides, sidewalks, even on hiking trails! I am disgusted when I walk along a beach, where someone has used the sand for their personal ashtray. I've seen them floating in lakes. They fly out car windows and occasionally start forest fires. There must be billions of cigarette butts thrown out all over the planet. Not to mention all of the other accessories...packs, cartons, matches, and lighters. All that trash makes me mad and somebody should be responsible.

Smokers were not to blame for injuring their health, so they must not be to blame for their garbage either. Why not get big tobacco to fork over some of their billions of dollars and pay to clean up our streets?

Hi all...interesting followups...some of this was meant to be sarcastic...I do hate this trash. I personally blame the people who throw it out. But these people knew cigarettes would make them sick and tobacco companies had to pay up anyway. So by that logic they should pay for litter too. Me, I just want it cleaned up.

(idea) by WickerNipple (5.4 y) (print) ? (I like it!) 1 C! Thu Sep 28 2000 at 21:14:00

While you're at it, you might as well sue Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Pepsi, Cheetos and just about any other company that mass produces products in this world.

Cause everywhere I throw my biodegradeable cigarettes there seems to be a lot of other non-biodegradeable crap lying around.

(idea) by Shanoyu (2 y) (print) ? (I like it!) Thu Sep 28 2000 at 21:42:35

The litter is largely the result of non-smoker/anti-smoker promoted laws which make things like ash trays and ashcans in public places like bars and strip malls illegal. Assumedly these anti-smoker laws were made on the assumption that if there was no place to deposit cigarette butts that people wouldn't smoke. Obviously, 'Big Tobacco' (I don't think they are big tobacco, unless they've started using tobacco in RJR Nabisco brand crackers.) is not at fault. This is simply an unfortunate side effect of legislation against choice.

printable version
chaos

Roll Your own	big tobacco	Virginia's antismoking campaign	Master Settlement Agreement
Bittersweet sexy salty	litter	moron	Don't hold your breath
corporation	Pluto	impossible	tobacco
Time travel	DSL	Delinquency	Brain damaged
Roadside	Cheetos	Tobacco is Wacko if You're a Teen!

Y'know, if you log in, you can write something here, or contact authors directly on the site. Create a New User if you don't already have an account.

Login
Password

remember me
password reminder
register

Everything2 Help

Look at this mess the Death Borg made!
E2 Hospitality Index
Killing A Vampire: A Cross-Cultural Survey of Methodology
Watching my mother die
Semaphore
Marshall Applewhite
I wish I was carrying cigarettes
joy is like curing hiccups
Oscar Wilde
War of the Roses
Gospel of Thomas
Lady Jane Grey
Dr. Seuss
I left you a note and you replied to it

Heitah
Why I love Everything2	(person)
trixingee
Dungeon Mastering for the first time	(idea)
Netrat0
It's Called Subtext, Honey	(person)
eyeofthebeholder
The Dragon	(idea)
Heitah
consist, comprise, constitute, or compose	(idea)
Meezzio
Gotlandssnus	(thing)
argv
Astral Plane	(idea)
Madara
One Winged Angel	(fiction)
Tom Rook
Talk is cheap	(poetry)
shaogo
Adelle Davis	(person)
Aerobe
race car g sfjsgsd	(poetry)
Binah
Dream Log: July 5, 2008	(dream)
StrawberryFrog
Forgotten things in space	(idea)
antigravpussy
velvet revolution fairy tale	(idea)
Heitah
Nerve agent VX	(thing)

E2 is a by-product of the existence of The Everything Development Company