THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 25, 1996 TAG: 9608230376
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 32 lines
I was naive to think that a mass killing could never happen in the United States.
Mary changed my mind. Before she died, Mary declined our request to visit her, responding, ``While I would dearly love to see you, the excitement would cause me to have a panic attack. I would worry about catching another breath. Besides, I would be embarrassed to have you see me now. I look like a Holocaust victim.''
Due to lengthy addiction to nicotine, Mary's lungs were burned out. A chained prisoner, Mary was connected from her nostrils to tubes from a large oxygen tank.
Like 80 percent of adult smokers, Mary began in her early teens. Beautiful cigarette-holding models enticed teenagers to receive smoking rewards of glamour and pleasure. Instead, Mary developed emphysema and panic attacks.
Every day, 1,164 Americans perish in the tobacco holocaust - more than five times the 230 killed on Flight 800.
President Clinton authorized FDA Commissioner David Kessler to propose safety rules limiting minors' access to tobacco by promotions targeted at kids. Big Tobacco and its political collaborators (addicted by PAC money) have declared war against the FDA and its proposals.
To honor the 425,000 Americans, once kids, who were killed by tobacco in 1995 and to protect our children, Americans must fight to stop the tobacco holocaust.
HARRY C. SNYDER
Edenton, N.C., Aug. 10, 1996 by CNB