Tobacco Industry Targets the Low Income Rural Americans

Just Making a Bad Situation Worse

The Washington Post has a fantastic story about smoking and who is doing it.  The story confirms what we have all observed and suspected, that smoking is far more prevalent among lower income non urban individuals than it is with higher income urban/suburban individuals.

Among the nation’s less-educated people — those with a high-school-equivalency diploma — the smoking rate remains more than 40 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Today, rural residents are diagnosed with lung cancer at rates 18 to 20 percent above those of city dwellers. By nearly every statistical measure, researchers say, America’s lower class now smokes more and dies more from cigarettes than other Americans.

 This graphic says it all.

But what about the cigarette companies?  What are they doing?  Exploiting the situation, what did you expect?

Tobacco companies have also invested considerable resources in recent years lobbying against smoking restrictions and taxes, especially in poorer, rural and often Southern states, where smoking remains highest.