The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. – Benjamin Franklin
Toxic metals in tobacco? Really?
Captain Obvious strikes again …
How about testing for polonium? Maybe that is what most people haven’t heard about yet.
– Popular cigarettes found to contain toxic metals: Lead, Cadmium, Arsenic and Aluminum (Natural News, March 5, 2015):
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– Romney Tobacco Deal With Russian Mob and GOP (Veterans Today, Oct 23, 2012):
Stories hitting the press today about Bain Capital and the Russian cigarette market tell only a small part of the story. Stories say that Romney sent representatives to Russia to aid them in selling cigarettes but this is quite misleading. The real deal was between the GOP and Russian Mafia with Bain only acting as “consultant.”The GOP organized cigarette smuggling into Russia through Poland in late 1990 and early 1991, paying of KGB operatives in Russia. Cigarette sales in Russia were a method then of supplying income for disabled veterans, as cigarette kiosks were a “perk” of military service and a method of survival for many.
Initially, cigarettes came from vending companies in the US, were shipped in 20 foot containers into Gdansk, Poland, and trucked into Russia where the profits were split with the KGB.
The first few shipments were all Marlboro and traded for vodka which was offloaded in Chicago. Where it went from there, who knows.
Read moreRomney Tobacco Deal With Russian Mob and GOP (Veterans Today)
Flashback:
– ROUNDUP: Birth Defects Caused By World’s Top-Selling Weedkiller, Scientists Say
– Roundup, GMOs linked to emergence of deadly new pathogen causing spontaneous abortions among animals
– Monsanto’s Roundup Triggers Over 40 Plant Diseases and Endangers Human and Animal Health
– Study: Monsanto’s Roundup Kills Human Cells (Flashback)
– Scientist: Monsanto’s herbicide could cause brain, intestinal and heart defects in foetuses
– Monsanto and Big Tobacco Blamed for Birth Defects (Courthouse News Service, April 10, 2012):
WILMINGTON, Del. (CN) – Monsanto, Philip Morris and other U.S. tobacco giants knowingly poisoned Argentinean tobacco farmers with pesticides, causing “devastating birth defects” in their children, dozens of workers claim in court.
The farmers, on their own behalf and for their injured children, sued Altria Group fka Philip Morris Cos., Philip Morris USA, Carolina Leaf Tobacco, Universal Corporation fka Universal Leaf Tobacco Company, Monsanto, and their affiliates and Argentine subsidiaries, in New Castle County Court.
The farmers grow tobacco on small family-owned farms in Misiones Province and sell it to U.S. tobacco distributors. Most of Argentina’s tobacco is grown in Misiones, a rural northeastern province.
The farmers claim the tobacco companies asked them to use herbicides, pesticides and other toxic products made and distributed by Monsanto, and assured them the products were safe.
They say the defendants “wrongfully caused the parental and infant plaintiffs to be exposed to those chemicals and substances which they both knew, or should have known, would cause the infant offspring of the parental plaintiffs to be born with devastating birth defects.”
Birth defects cited in the 55-page complaint include cerebral palsy, psychomotor retardation, epilepsy, spina bifida, intellectual disabilities, metabolic disorders, congenital heart defects, Down syndrome, missing fingers and blindness.
The farmers claim Philip Morris and Carolina Leaf used a tobacco brokerage company, Tabacos Norte, to buy tobacco from the farmers and sell them crop production supplies, including herbicides and pesticides.
Tabacos Norte, based in Misiones, was created by Carolina Leaf and Philip Morris’ Argentine subsidiary in 1984, to produce tobacco fit for the North and South American markets, according to the complaint.
The farmers say the tobacco companies that bought their crops asked them to replace the native tobacco with a new type, used in Philip Morris cigarettes, which required more pesticides.
They say the defendants pushed for excessive use of pesticides and failed to warn them of the dangers or provide them with information or protective gear.
Most farmers in Misiones used Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide made by Monsanto, to kill weeds and clear tobacco fields, according to the complaint.
– 217 Bq/Kg from cigarette (Fukushima Diary, Mar 15, 2012):
JT, JAPAN TOBACCO INC. is going to apply the Japanese safety limit of vegetables, which are 500Bq/kg for cesium 134 + 137, and 2000Bq/Kg for Iodine 131.
Though they don’t purchase from Fukushima because they didn’t produce in 2011, JT purchases tabacco from Ibaraki, Tochigi, Chiba and Shizuoka.
They finished radiation measurement last September, the highest reading was 217 Bq/Kg (cesium 134 + 137).
Other nuclides are not tested.
– Fukushima’s Leaf Tobacco Farmers Secured Contract with Japan Tobacco for 2012 Crop (EX-SKF, Feb. 5, 2012):
494 leaf tobacco farmers in Fukushima will grow leaf tobacco this year and sell it to Japan Tobacco (JT), a monopoly in Japan (50% of shares owned by the Ministry of Finance) and the 3rd largest tobacco and cigarettes manufacturer in the world, next to British American Tobacco.
Did you know that there is no national safety standard for radioactive materials in leaf tobacco?
From KFB Fukushima Broadcasting Co. (2/5/2012):
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After the nuclear plant accident last year, the tobacco producers’ union in Fukushima Prefecture gave up planting the tobacco. In the next growing season [2012], 494 farms in central, southern and Aizu region of Fukushima Prefecture will resume planting on 474 hectares.
Read moreFukushima’s Tobacco Farmers Secure Contract With Japan Tobacco For 2012 Crop
Cartoon by Khalil Bendib
Children in Malawi who are forced to work as tobacco pickers are exposed to nicotine poisoning equivalent to smoking 50 cigarettes a day, an investigation has found.
Child labourers as young as five are suffering severe health problems from a daily skin absorption of up to 54 milligrams of dissolved nicotine, according to the international children’s organisation Plan.
Malawian tobacco is found in the blend of almost every cigarette smoked in the west. The low-grade, high-nicotine tobacco is often used as a filler by manufacturers, reflecting a long-term global shift in production.
Tobacco farms in America declined by 89% between 1954 and 2002. Three-quarters of production has migrated to developing countries, with Malawi the world’s fifth biggest producer. Seventy per cent of its export income comes from tobacco and the country is economically dependent on it.
Plan cites research showing that Malawi has the highest incidence of child labour in southern Africa, with 88.9% of five to 14-year-olds working in the agricultural sector. It is estimated that more than 78,000 children work on tobacco estates – some up to 12 hours a day, many for less than 1p an hour and without protective clothing.
Read moreMalawi’s child tobacco pickers ‘being poisoned by nicotine’ for 11p a day
