You may be accidentally investing in cigarette companies | Bronwyn King

Tobacco causes more than seven million deaths every year — and many of us are far more complicit in the problem than we realize. In a bold talk, oncologist Dr. Bronwyn King tells the story of how she uncovered the deep ties between the tobacco industry and the entire global finance sector, which invests our money in cigarette companies through big banks, insurers and pension funds. Learn how Dr. King has ignited a worldwide movement to create tobacco-free investments and how each of us can play a role in ending this epidemic.

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59 Comments on You may be accidentally investing in cigarette companies | Bronwyn King

    • Still deposits tar and other combustion products in your lungs.
      Best to vape it, drink it (cannabis tea) or eat it. Those last two are also likely less addictive (It takes longer to get to the brain through your guts than through your lungs, so your mind shouldn’t build as strong a link between the high and the means to procure it).

  1. i fully agree with her, but she is going to have a heart attack when she looks at the military industrial complex. they just make weapons, their weapons frequently fight their own weapons. have a nice day.

    • Callum Allaway North nah, I’m with her all the way. Every single act makes a difference. But I don’t think this is even the top of the iceberg when it comes to capitalist corruption.

    • just like with the tobacco industry, the number of deaths caused isn’t just in the battle. the tobacco industry is now forced to be more honest about their deaths after decades and even nearly a century of fighting, and i fully support the destruction of the tobacco industry. the weapon industry is another issue.

    • also known as the military industrial complex. btw more than 30,000 people in south east asia have died this year from unsanctioned but militarily equipped individuals. you know, the folks who don’t end up en that count you had. you are aware that there is an ethnic cleansing going on in myanmar right?

    • my point being that the number of deaths reported from the products of the military industrial complex are just as under reported as tobacco deaths were 30 years ago.

  2. Last month I was smoking a pack every other day, but then heart attack got me.. So I quit.. straight up cold turkey.. 31 days later since I quit, still haven’t touched a stick of cigarette.. Been smoking since 2005 yet when I experienced that horrible feeling of a heart attack I stopped puffing a cig.. If I can quit, so can you if you want to..

    • Sovereign Rex are you a doctor? Because when I stopped puffing smoke, I haven’t had any heart palpitations ( in about 2 weeks into my stoppage).. I still eat meat until now.. edit: I only eat meat on a sunday ever since, fish and veggies the rest if the week..

    • +Sovereign Rex Can you cite any studies where the type of meat people eat was selected, rather than comparing all meat eaters, which selects an average human (including those eating hamburgers) to vegans (which selects people who at least do SOMETHING to watch their diet)?

    • Vorname Nachname I used to say to myself back when I was young that “ if you smoke, you die. If you don’t smoke, you also die.” But the pain of the heart attack itself shocked me to kick the habbit, though its not easy.. Especially during the 1st week since Im used to smoking at least 2 or 3 sticks after a meal.. But as always, that pain that I’ve felt during the attack haunts me..

    • Sovereign Rex …number one cause of vascular disease is being born…meat is what humans eat…being predators is everything that we are…it is what has shaped our entire history of technologic development.

  3. At least where i live (Scandinavia) 1. tobacco products are not sold for minors 2. every packet has a “tobacco kills” sign 3. tobacco related advertisement is banned 4. tobacco is heavily taxed. If this would be the case everywhere and people would still smoke, I’d pretty much say go ahead – you know what you’re getting into and you know that you are paying a lot for it. Same as with alcohol or unhealthy food people still should have the option to use those products if they want to but they should be made aware of the health detriments.

  4. I dont care, because cigarettes are a product and if someone wants that product I’m ok with it. I dont smoke but i am for people being free.

    Bad food, and carnism in general, kills as many if not more people than cigarettes but there is no uproar about that because the people who eat it dont want to stop and make up a much larger percentage of the population than smokers.

    • That’s a logical standard, but then I wonder what you think about age restrictions on smoking. Is it OK for children to smoke? Are they capable of making a nuanced decision to choose unhealthy freedom over healthy restriction?

      In the US, there are restrictions, but in many countries the legal smoking age is non-existent. Would you still support the companies selling these products?

    • Should companies also be free to dump toxic waste in a river? After all, nobody is forced to swim in that river. Should doctors be allowed to give patients false cancer diagnosis to sell chemo treatments to them? After all, you are free not to consume his harmful advice and visit another doctor.

    • You forget about 2nd Hand Smoke. People who cannot escape it because of smokers (children with smoking parents, for example) are being killed, that’s not ‘freedom’.

  5. A talk like this works in Australia because we value life more than money. America, however, having sold its soul for lucre long ago, is the kind of place where the reverse is true; where life is cheap and only money has value. I believe this is because Australia has sensible restrictions on capitalism and has a healthy share of socialistic programs, raising the quality of life of *everyone,* not just those who can afford it. The same thing can be said of any of the nations/ cities that make the top 10 in the Most Livable Nations/ Cities in the world and is precisely the reason no american city (or the usa as a nation) ever makes the top 10.

  6. And how many of those goals are achievable, if we continue to support institutions that discriminate against e.g. white men, and stifle free speech.

    Forcing companies to change their naturally occurring gender distribution, and forcing people to stop smoking, is authoritarian, and ultimately solves nothing.

  7. I disagree. A lot of people enjoy smoking, knowing that it is unhealthy. If you want to invest in cigarette companies, that’s fine by me. Most corporations do some harm to the world, one way or another. Many companies pollute, they damage forests, they exploit poor people, etc. It’s not clear to me that cigarette companies are the worst. Manufacturers of junk food also cause a lot of health problems, so you should no more invest in them than cigarette companies, by this way of thinking. I have no problem with investing in companies which sell products that people use, knowing that they are unhealthy. And consider all the serious sports injuries and deaths that happen every year, that could have been avoided had people not been doing things like boxing, parachuting, mountain climbing, etc. If you invest in companies that manufacture sports equipment, you are only encouraging people to engage in activities that could kill them, just because they are “fun”.

  8. Its disgusting how we allow Cigarette Companies to keep going… Keep in mind that they kill people who don’t smoke too, through 2nd Hand Smoke…
    Its also vile how they *purposefully* put nicotine in their products to force people to become addicted.

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