Ebola Versus Tobacco

Ebola Versus Tobacco
An Ebola victim is put to rest at the Muslim cemetery in Beni, Congo, on July 14, 2019. (Jerome Delay/AP Photo)
The Reader's Turn
11/13/2014
Updated:
7/9/2020

Dear Editor:

I find the reaction of our national leaders and the media to the Ebola issue to be somewhat bizarre. They are treating Ebola as being a pandemic when, in fact, to date the impact on morbidity and mortality has been quite benign.

At this writing only one Ebola death has occurred in the United States and fewer than 5,000 deaths have occurred worldwide. Let us put this in the context of deaths from the use of tobacco.

Worldwide there are approximately 5 million deaths each year and in the U.S. there are approximately 500,000 deaths yearly from tobacco. In addition, the tobacco victims suffer terribly from the tobacco-inflicted diseases.

Despite this awesome toll the tobacco industry operates with impunity worldwide. When will our national and international leaders put things in perspective and take meaningful steps to curtail the worldwide tobacco pandemic?

John O' Hara President, Maryland Group Against Smoker’s Pollution Bowie, Md.