Quote:
Originally Posted by Liviu_5
And incidentally though off topic, there are studies (not that well publicized since they are not popular) that show that the tobacco companies are not actually causing financially harm to society overall, since the lack of productivity and the medical care required due to tobacco, if tobacco would not exist would be balanced by the high medical costs of those people growing in old age; from a moral point of view this argument is perverse, but from an economical point of view (and remember that a lot of court cases against tobacco companies rest on economic not moral arguments) people did the math and it seems that tobacco by killing many people younger than normal save society more than it's lost in care and productivity loss.
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Oh I agree entirely - tobacco companies are good for the economy; the British government, for example, earns far more in tax on cigarettes than it costs our state-funded health system to treat tobacco-related illnesses. Nonetheless I regard the entire business as unethical and certainly would not wish to invest my own money in such a business.
Personally, though, I regard anyone who smokes as a moron, but I suppose you have to give people the freedom to kill themselves that way if they choose to do so.