There are lies, damned lies, and statistics - Benjamin Disraeli

1. http://www.smokersalliance.org    -  The National Smokers Alliance
2. http://www.forces.org     -   FORCES  -  A national smoker's rights organization
3. http://www.smokers.org    -  The American Smoker's Alliance

   In this issue we take a look, as we always do, at many new pieces of RYO equipment, supplies, and paraphernalia. However, our reader response has been additionally and overwhelmingly interested in the political and scientific aspects of the tobacco debate. Hence the links above. These sites are among the most comprehensive endeavors related to smoking issues to be found anywhere. I know, because it is my job to find information on these issues and these sites are some of the important resources I use. There is one more must see site (actually a part of the NSA's website) that you should visit. Without a doubt, what is soon to be the bible for the smoking enthusiast, Don Oakley's "Slow Burn" - an incredibly well researched, powerful history of the facts and fallacies (mostly) of the anti-smoking movement from its organized inception in the early 60's to present - is available for reading and download. (See our review of this fascinating 600 page exposé by visiting our review section - click the "Reviews" button above) or click the book graphic at right to purchase it immediately online from Amazon.com (highly recommended). You will be amazed at how much wool has been pulled over the eyes of the American sheep population.

   Appropriately, what follows is an example of some of the kinds of research compilations demonstrating the misleading information hustled by the anti-smoking crowd that you will find exposed on these sites. There are literally thousands of examples. Here is just one:

The Journal of the American Medical Association ran a study on smoking, 1/6/89

They pre-qualified it as follows:

"For the purposes of this analysis, only persons aged 20 years or older are included, as information was not collected on younger persons in any consistent fashion over this time period."

Would you call the following innocent mistakes, misinterpretation or downright lying?

1. Sen. John McCain: "the fact is that 3,000 American children begin smoking cigarettes every day." May 4th, 1998 in a form letter to the public.

2. Tobacco Free Kids (TFK) and the American Cancer Society: "Every day 3000 kids become regular smokers; tobacco will kill 1000 of them prematurely." Ad in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, 2/22/98 .

3. President Clinton: "The big picture is clear. Every single day, even though it is illegal in every state in America, 3000 kids start to smoke." President Clinton, Boston Globe, 3/10/98.

4. And here's Stephen Chapman's quote that appeared in The Chicago Tribune, 4/26/98. "the president laments that 3,000 kids begin smoking every day. When I called the White House press office to find his source for this estimate, I was directed to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which sent me a 1989 study from the Journal of the American Medical Association. But the study said nothing about children. The 3,000 a day figure referred to 20-year olds."

  If the preceding was too esoteric, the basic facts are that McCain, Clinton, TFK and the American Cancer Society, when pressed, pointed via the CDC, to the 1989 Journal of the American Medical Association report of the study involving 20 year-old people and older to cite their figure of 3,000 new smoking "children." Their mis-information was not only nearly 9 years out of date, but characterizes 20 year-olds as children. Highly misleading to say the least, not to mention that nowhere in the JAMA report was the figure 1000 deaths out of 3000 discussed. My partner, Linda, frequently informs me that it is the little things that matter. And so it is with statistics.

    By the way, our thanks to Rick Erickson of the Idaho Tobacco Company for his suggestion that we remove the columnar formatting that we used in the first issue. We thought it looked cool, but it was more work for us and evidently some of you found it hard to navigate. We welcome your input. So without further ado, there is a lot more inside this issue, so join us now in the pages of RYO Magazine.

Below are links to sites with some in-depth information on the colorful and fascinating history, complete with photos, of the American Tobacco Industry.

1. Jim Shaw's Burnt Offerings
Lots of photos of old cigarette packs, ads and other historical esoterica.
2. The Cigarette Pack    Collector's Association
Compendium of cigarette historical data and collectibles with lots of links.
3. The Duke Family Homestead
Fascinating history of the founder of the American Tobacco Company and Duke University.