Marlboro Manslaughter

To the anti-smoking forces in our society, no irony could be more delicious than noting that the Marlboro Man, the advertising symbol whose appearance in the "Marlboro Country" series of advertisements was instrumental in establishing Philip Morris' Marlboro brand as the world's best-selling cigarette, died of lung cancer. Any claims about "the" Marlboro Man are a bit misleading, however, since many different men have portrayed the rugged-looking cowboys featured in Marlboro cigarette advertisements since 1954. An Oklahoma native named Darrell Winfield was the main Marlboro Man from the mid-1970s onwards, but dozens of other men (many of them "real" cowboys) have also modeled for television commercials, magazine and newspaper advertisements, billboards, and other advertising materials promoting Marlboro brand of cigarettes, and two of those men, both long-time smokers, have died of cancers which began in their lungs:

Wayne McLaren, who posed for some promotional photographs on behalf of Marlboro in 1976, succumbed to lung cancer at age 51 on 22 July 1992. McLaren was a former professional rodeo rider who appeared in small parts in various television series and movies (primarily Westerns) throughout the 1960s and 1970s, and he modeled for print advertising between acting jobs in the mid-1970s including a Marlboro campaign in 1976. McLaren, who had a pack-and-a-half a day smoking habit, was diagnosed with lung cancer at age 49. Despite chemotherapy, the removal of one lung, and radiation treatments, the cancer eventually spread to his brain and killed him. After learning he had cancer, McLaren embarked on an anti-smoking campaign that included the production of a commercial described as follows:

In the powerful TV spot, images of the handsome young Wayne McLaren in a Stetson hat are juxtaposed with shots of his withered form in a hospital bed just prior to his death. His brother, Charles, provides the voiceover and chides tobacco companies for promoting an 'independent' lifestyle and asks, 'Lying there with all those tubes in you, how independent can you really be?'

In the last months of his life McLaren appeared before the Massachusetts legislature when they were considering a bill to add taxes to cigarettes to pay for health education and also spoke at the annual Philip Morris stockholders' meeting to support a resolution that the company limit its advertising. Philip Morris initially denied that McLaren had ever appeared in Marlboro advertising, but a company spokesperson later conceded that McLaren's image had been used in a retail display for Marlboro Texan Poker Cards. (The woman McLaren lived with for the last eight years of his life also produced a Marlboro magazine advertisement which she claimed pictured McLaren.)

David McLean, who appeared in many Marlboro television and print advertisements starting in the early 1960s, also died of cancer at age 73 on 12 October 1995. McLean starred in the short-lived 1960 television Western Tate, and he played roles in numerous television series and feature films during the 1960s and 1970s. McLean took up smoking at age 12, began to suffer from emphysema in 1985, and had a cancerous tumor removed from his right lung in 1993. Despite the surgery, the cancer remained and spread to his brain and spine, and McLean succumbed in 1995. In August 1996 McLean's widow and son filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Philip Morris, Inc., claiming that McLean was unable to stop smoking because of his nicotine addiction, and that his smoking habit was the cause of his lung cancer. (The lawsuit contended, among other issues, that McLean had been obligated to smoke up to five packs per take in order to get the right look while posing for advertisements, and that he received cartons of Marlboro cigarettes as gifts from Philip Morris.) At last report (in 1999) the lawsuit was still pending, having outlasted all attempts by defendant Philip Morris to have it dismissed.

The public's fascination with these deaths is easy to understand. With the growth of the anti-smoking movement, the proliferation of lawsuits against tobacco companies, and the passage of legislation restricting smoking in public places over the last several years, the death of the ubiquitous symbol of the world's best-selling cigarette is an irony that many anti-smoking campaigners particularly relish.

Republished from: http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/marlboro.asp

Cigarette Smoking Nutshelled

Here are some brief facts and notes about smoking and danger to others and why it is important to quit as soon as possible:

• It is a high importance to note that tobacco smoking poses threat not just to the smoker's health, but also his family members, coworkers and others who breathe the smoker's cigarette smoke, called secondhand smoke.
  
• Each year secondhand smoke is associated with as many as 300,000 cases of bronchitis and pneumonia among newborns to babies of eighteen months of age.
  
• Statistics say, if both parents smoke in the family, a teenager is more than twice as likely to smoke than a young person whose parents are both non-smokers. In households where only one parent smokes, young people are also more likely to start smoking.
  
• Pregnant women who smoke are more likely to bear infants whose weights are too low for good health of a child. If all women stop smoking during pregnancy, about four thousand newborns would not die each year.
  
• Secondhand smoke from a parent's cigarette increases a child's chances for middle ear problems, causes coughing and wheezing, and worsens asthma conditions.
  
• Remember, smoking is an addiction. Cigarette smoke contains nicotine, a drug that is addictive and can make it very hard, but not impossible, to quit.
  
• Actually, more than 400,000 death cases in the United States each year are from smoking-related diseases. Smoking greatly increases your risks for lung cancer and many other cancers.
  
• Ex-smokers have better health than current smokers. Ex-smokers have fewer days of illness, fewer health complaints, and less bronchitis and pneumonia than current smokers.
  
• Stopping smoking cuts the risk of lung cancer, many other cancers, heart disease, stroke, other lung diseases, and other respiratory illnesses.
  
• Stopping smoking makes a difference right away - you can taste and smell food better. This happens for men and women of all ages, even those who are older. It happens for healthy people as well as those who already have a disease or condition caused by smoking. Your breath smells better and your cough goes away. And the quality of your lifes improves significantly.
  
• Stopping smoking saves money. A pack-a-day smoker, who pays about two bucks per pack can, expect to save more than 700 bucks per year. It appears that the price of cigarettes will continue to rise in coming years, as will the financial rewards of quitting.
  

Long Term Hazards of Smoking

There has been so much discussion about the long term effects of smoking, such as increased chance of lung cancer and heart disease. There are so many others that while they may be just as much of a concern, they never seem to get as much documentation. If you have ever thought that maybe you would like to quit smoking, take the time to read through the rest of this article to get a better picture of what you may face if you don't quit.

Lung cancer isn't the only cancer that can be caused by smoking. Research also supports the fact that other cancers can be attributed to smoking as well. Some of the more common ones that you might suspect are cancer of the mouth, larynx, tongue and skin. Obviously these cancers are due to the direct smoke contact when inhaling a cigarette. A smoker with these types of cancer can expect to end up needing a stoma, which provides an opening into the throat directly. It often needs to be suctioned out in order to stay open. And, a voice box could be a possibility as well.

Other cancers that can be caused from smoking include kidney, bladder, cervix and breast. Recent evidence from research show that smokers are more prone to these cancers as well. In the case of kidney and bladder cancer it is really quite understandable actually. As the smoke enters the body, it goes into the lungs (which accounts for the high rates of lung cancer). The lungs filter the smoke into the bloodstream, which then is put into the kidneys. The kidneys produce urine, and the urine containing the remaining toxins that have been filtered out collects in the bladder. While in the bladder, the cells lining the bladder will be damaged.

COPD is also a very common concern. This stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease - and it ranges from a very mild case of bronchitis (often how it starts), to more severe cases. Emphysema is almost a certainty in long term smokers, and if you have never had to watch someone suffer with this disease then you are very fortunate. The air sacs in the lungs collapse and there is nowhere for the oxygen to exchange. This ends up in the person basically smothering - over a long time period.

There are so many other possible long term effects of smoking - including permanent nasal congestion, coughing, vision problems, gum disease - even amputation of limbs due to the inability of the body to provide oxygen to certain parts of the body. The truth of the matter is that there are so many negative physical effects to smoking that if you are even just thinking about quitting - you need to make a commitment and stop now before it is too late.

Article source: http://ezinearticles.com/?Long-Term-Effects-Of-Smoking-You-May-Not-Have-Been-Aware-Of&id=962163