I absolutely agree that these cigarettes are a serious problem and ought to be banned from sale. There must be a way (i.e. Customs or Trade Practices Act or a tobacco law of some sort) that can stop these insidious cigs from getting onto our shelves.

In the same way, it would be good to ban condoms from sale as they're responsible for encouraging infidelity and can reap the same consequence as from smoking - death, yet nobody seems to like the idea of 'save sex rather than safe sex'.

But in any case, an excellent article Simon!!

A comparison between condoms and cigarettes?! Now I've heard everything LOL!

The only way anyone can catch HIV using a condom is if the product is faulty or they've put it on wrongly. Over their head perhaps or on their elbow. People can also be killed if a car is faulty (a problem with the brakes, for example). Maybe we should ban cars as well? Cars also encourage infidelity because you can drive to your boyfriend/girlfriend's place so that'd be an added bonus.

Cigarettes on the other hand are designed to kill when you use them correctly. In fact, a faulty cigarette - one with a tear that doesn't allow you to drawback - would be healthier than a cigarette in perfect working order. And the same goes for other drugs - improper use of the drug means you don't get the effect of the poisons. Proper usage ruins your health.

In the early 90s, there was a UK brand of cigarettes called "Death". They were prevented from being sold in Australia. Wouldn't want truth in advertising, would we? Admittedly, there's good reason to think they would have attracted a certain type of consumer, but probably not as many as the nicotine equivalent of alcopops (Death were straight cigarettes, no taste-masking agents). I well remember my road along the path to addiction being paved with Sobranies, both Cocktail and Jasmine. Nothing like a bit of novelty to get the kids in. It only took me two early cancers to get out.

LOL DJS. condoms and cigarettes, reminds me of the camel joke.

O yes I can remember my first ciggie. It tasted disgusting and I just about fell over backwards with the rush, but the cool factor won out in the end and here I am a chronic smoker, needing a nicotine jacket to combat the withdrawls.

Not sure if flavours, or absense of, would made any difference to the fact that young women are still taking up smoking, even tho they know the risks. Movies depict smokers as bad guys, hence "cool". Risks: some smokers live to a ripe old age, whereas some of the unluckier ones don't - as Anomie has said before, sometimes you get the genetic unlucky dip. Maybe are we putting too much emphasis on anti-smoking. Toluene from car fumes on a main city street can be more harmful. I could die of stress worrying about it all!

If the scientists were really keen on beating bad health they would take the nicotine out of tobacco and put it in broccoli.

Well, well, well. If it isn't anti tobaccco activist and prominent anti guns campaigner Simon Chapman. Hey, Chapman, I read your book.

So you don't think that the media has any case to answer for rising rates of serious violent crime including massacres, eh? Well, if the media has no effect on human behaviour, then you should have no qualms on allowing tobacco companies to advetise their wares, would you?