The lure of second-hand smoke

Scientists are telling us that simply smelling cigarette smoke opens more nicotine receptors in the brain. The affected receptors are the "pleasure receptors" that deliver a sense of pleasure and reward.

If you smoke you probably have at least a million more of these nicotine receptors than an average non-smoker. If you don't smoke but breathe smoke from other people in the same room, your brain automatically pops in a few nicotine receptors. These few receptors help you become drawn toward the idea, and then the practice, and finally the addiction, of nicotine in your body.

Find out what scientists at the California Institute of Technology have learned about second-hand smoke.

A well-organized source of information about the devastation of second-hand smoke is the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). This is an inside link.

Tobacco money is everywhere

How can you vote for a measure that might cut into tobacco revenues when the companies that manufacture and sell tobacco products are paying your election campaign costs?

That is the apparent reality for Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) who has accepted nearly half a million dollars ($482,000) from tobacco interests to help him win election. Since the 2000 elections the tobacco industry has handed over nearly $25 million to help fund federal elections. Nearly 80 percent went to Republicans, including President George W. Bush, who took more than $250,000 from tobacco interest for his two elections.

Obviously, it's more than coincidence that Sen. McConnell leads the drive to bury the SCHIP program that would use additional tobacco taxes to provide insurance coverage for children from poor families.

As much as I oppose this sort of persuasion, the track being taken sounds too easy. The vote was solid in favor of SCHIP. It was the veto by the President that stopped the measure from being enacted. He cited financial reasons and worried that the measure would motivate too many families to switch from private to government insurance.

Sources cited include The Center for Responsive Politics (re campaign funding by tobacco interests).

SCHIP veto and cigarettes

The SCHIP proposal to extend health care insurance to American children in need was defeated by Presidential veto, but it isn't over yet.

Rep. Joe Knollenberg says it's just too expensive, that the special program should be limited to families earning $40,000 or less for a family of four.

Meanwhile other members of Congress are busy rounding up votes to override the veto.

The bottom line for the proposal is shaky. A federal tax of 61 cents for every pack of cigarettes is designed to pay for the extended health insurance. "It's not enough," say supporters of the veto. "We'd need 22 million new smokers."

Save the children. Smoke more.