The tricksters of tobacco are up to old and new tricks. Even with the global efforts to raise awareness about the life-threatening health risks of smoking, and outright bans on smoking, did anyone even slightly believe that the tobacco industry was going to fold its carnival tent, give up its magic act and go home. Selling nicotine-addicting cigarettes is a billion gazillion dollars in profit business. Joe Nocera, in Is it just smoke and mirrors? sums up one of the fundamental business practices for the tobacco industry by referencing a Warren Buffett statement, "You make a product for a penny, you sell it for a dollar and you sell it to addicts."

In a second excellent article I found published today about the tobacco industry, Tobacco industry: Smoking isn't bad for your health reveals the current focus shift of tobacco companies in gaining new markets in the continuing effort not to lose too much business due to smoking restrictions being implemented in much of the Western world and the resulting decline in the number of smokers. Eastern Europe, Africa and the Far East are the new frontiers. According to the article, tobacco companies are being accused of turning a blind eye to cigarette smuggling in order to flood new markets with their product. In addition, they face criticism for launching aggressive marketing campaigns, which would be banned in the West, linking tobacco with sex, youth and glamour.

By far, the most recent ploy is research-based studies indicating that such things as vitamin intake somehow takes away from the negative impact of smoking. If there were ever a more excellent case to be made for asking who is behind a study before the public accepts the scientific results of a study, this is it in a nutshell. In a satirical wrap up of additional reporting by Hazel Francis in Tobacco industry: Smoking isn't bad for your health:

Dialogue from Thank You For Smoking released in the UK last week. Nick Naylor (played by Aaron Eckhart) is a spokesman for the tobacco lobby.

Nick Naylor: I speak on behalf of cigarettes.

Child: My mommy says that cigarettes kill.

NN: Now, is your mommy a doctor?

Child: No.

NN: Is she some kind of scientific researcher?

Child: No.

NN: Now she doesn't exactly sound like a credible expert, does she?

"By funding research they (tobacco industry) create the impression that there is an ongoing debate about the health impact of smoking," said According to John Britton, professor of epidemiology at Nottingham University. "They fund research in the developed world which affords a certain credibility, but all the time they carry on pushing the product in poor countries." Both Is it just smoke and mirrors? and Tobacco industry: Smoking isn't bad for your health are excellent reads.