Mike Pence outed as cigarette conspiracy theorist

[Supersonic 49,376]

Over his political career Gov. Mike Pence (R-IN) has consistently carried the tobacco industry’s water, denying the dangers of cigarettes, opposing government regulation, and slashing smoking cessation efforts. In return, they rewarded him with more than $100,000 in campaign donations.  In 2000, Gov. Mike Pence (R-IN), then running for an open U.S. House seat, came out against a proposed settlement between government and the tobacco industry, calling it “big government.” In a shocking editorial, he wrote: “Time for a quick reality check. Despite the hysteria from the political class and the media, smoking doesn’t kill.” Pence acknowledged that smoking is not “good for you,” but claimed that two-thirds of smokers do not die from smoking related illness and “9 out of ten smokers do not contract lung cancer.” He warned of a slippery-slope in which government would soon seek to discourage fatty foods, caffeine, and SUVs.

In a debate that September, his Democratic opponent pressed him on the suggestion that smoking does not cause cancer and noted his contributions from tobacco companies. According to the Indianapolis Star’s coverage of the exchange, “Pence clarified that he wrote that there was no causal link medically identifying smoking as causing lung cancer.” While cigarette manufacturers might have been still claiming that there was not causal link between smoking and lung cancer, medical science had settled the question years earlier. A landmark report by the U.S. Surgeon General had documented the link — in 1964.

After the debate, the paper reported, Pence acknowledged he had received an estimated $5,000 and $10,000 in contributions from tobacco companies. His actual total was already at least $13,000 in contributions from the political action committees for Brown & Williamson, Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, and US Tobacco, according to Political MoneyLine data reviewed by ThinkProgress. A May 2000 letter from the Reynolds PAC to Pence, now available in the Truth Tobacco Industry Documents archive archives, conveyed a $1,000 check and praised his “position on issues important to our company.”

source: https://thinkprogress.org/mike-pence-cigarette-truther-4b89e9304759/

[PunkTheFunk 125,733]

2 minutes ago, Supersonic said:

“Pence clarified that he wrote that there was no causal link medically identifying smoking as causing lung cancer.”

My cigarette-smoking grandfather who died from lung cancer has left the chat

[RAMROD 117,902]

Oh well

[Reginald 13,841]

Wow, that's such a small amount of money that he took  

This really sheds light on how easy it could be for any person, or entity,  to manipulate the political spectrum 

[rumours 45,521]

Pence is such a drag. 

Spoiler

 

[Lion Heart 15,041]

"Mike Pence outed" 

I ran.

[WorstBehavior 1,141]

24 minutes ago, PunkTheFunk said:

My cigarette-smoking grandfather who died from lung cancer has left the chat

How was he in the chat in the first place?

[LordEnigma 11,313]

Obviously cigarettes cause harm to the body... but I have always wondered why we don’t attack big fast food chains for their health side effects 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Yuuri 21,636]

3 minutes ago, Alexander Levi said:

Obviously cigarettes cause harm to the body... but I have always wondered why we don’t attack big fast food chains for their health side effects 🤷🏻‍♂️

The thing is many lower income family rely on fast food to feed themselves and their children, as home cooked meals can be too expensive and time consuming. I'm not saying that all low income families mainly eat fast food, but a majority do.

[LordEnigma 11,313]

1 minute ago, Sharyu said:

The thing is many lower income family rely on fast food to feed themselves and their children, as home cooked meals can be too expensive and time consuming. I'm not saying that all low income families mainly eat fast food, but a majority do.

I mean cigarette companies target lower income areas as well....

And fast food places make their food addictive to keep people hooked.

[whore 11,447]

30 minutes ago, Alexander Levi said:

I mean cigarette companies target lower income areas as well....

And fast food places make their food addictive to keep people hooked.

Cigarettes are cheap where I live, and they’re still close to $8. With prices like that it doesn’t appeal to new smokers, and the long-time smokers always mention how they need to quit because of how expensive it’s getting. 

[Morphine Prince 109,896]

51 minutes ago, Alexander Levi said:

Obviously cigarettes cause harm to the body... but I have always wondered why we don’t attack big fast food chains for their health side effects 🤷🏻‍♂️

Someone needs to come after the sugar industry. The amount of sugar put in food products is so unnecessary and partly the cause of diabetes and other health issues. 

 

“The sugar industry paid scientists in the 1960s to play down the link between sugar and heart disease and promote saturated fat as the culprit instead, newly released historical documents show.

The internal sugar industry documents, recently discovered by a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, and published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, suggest that five decades of research into the role of nutrition and heart disease, including many of today’s dietary recommendations, may have been largely shaped by the sugar industry.

“They were able to derail the discussion about sugar for decades,” said Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine at U.C.S.F. and an author of the JAMA Internal Medicine paper.

The documents show that a trade group called the Sugar Research Foundation, known today as the Sugar Association, paid three Harvard scientists the equivalent of about $50,000 in today’s dollars to publish a 1967 review of research on sugar, fat and heart disease. The studies used in the review were handpicked by the sugar group, and the article, which was published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, minimized the link between sugar and heart health and cast aspersions on the role of saturated fat.”

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2016/09/13/well/eat/how-the-sugar-industry-shifted-blame-to-fat.amp.html

[Supersonic 49,376]

50 minutes ago, Alexander Levi said:

I mean cigarette companies target lower income areas as well....

And fast food places make their food addictive to keep people hooked.

Well evidence based science has concluded that if you do enough physical exercise, you can live a very long and healthy life just eating processed junk food.  (Except white sugar which is the literal devil)

The actual problem is miseducation, overindulgance, overpriced groceries, people having to work 3 jobs a day to stay alive, the resulting lack of time for healthy meals while the Tobacco industry literally tries to sell you physical and mental illness just for the pure sake of pleasure. Smoking is a luxury while food (regardless of how shitty it is) is a human neccessity. 

[Andreu 37,216]

these kind of americans that dont believe in climate change now dont believe in health either

[LordEnigma 11,313]

48 minutes ago, Possibly Maybe said:

Cigarettes are cheap where I live, and they’re still close to $8. With prices like that it doesn’t appeal to new smokers, and the long-time smokers always mention how they need to quit because of how expensive it’s getting. 

But they still target the low income population... there are plenty of studies on this.

http://thenationshealth.aphapublications.org/content/47/8/1.2

https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/disparities/low-ses/index.htm