I can't imagine too many people seriously disagreeing with the notion of re-engineering tobacco for non-smoking-related research and such. Go for it! As long as it keeps the nicotine and the harm of other smoke-related stuff away from our lungs and innards, why not?

But some of the alternatives you thought were so hunky-dory for re-engineered tobacco included things like nicotine-reduced cigarettes (will we still have to deal with smoke??) and snus (didn't your linked article on this suggest pancreatic cancer hovering in the future??). I don't know, they all sound like just more creative ways to get people hooked on yet something else they don't really need. Is that what you're after?

Well, heck, go for it with that stuff, too! But good luck to you. In that hilarious book and movie "Barbarians at the Gate," RJR's attempts to test market a smokeless cigarette got this flat-out pronouncement: "it tastes like shit and smells like a fart!"

In my part of the country, sausage biscuits cause many more deaths and general health issues than tobacco.

I would like to see more R&D to alleviate this problem, but it has been hard to get people on my bandwagon. I guess there are just too many impediments to re-engineering pig snouts and anuses.

Yes, but I don't have to EAT YOUR sausage biscuits if YOU'RE eating them next to me.

Do you understand?

Tobacco and alcohole as stated in the entire article is totally biased. Both pose serious health risk to anyone exposed to these narcotic drugs. Dana, you stated that the smokeless cigarette tastes like shit and smells link a fart and you may be right, but from a logical stand point, most people have never tasted shit. As for the farts, the danger created by any form of exposed smoke is by far, worse. Anything that poses a known serious health risk to the human race as dangereous as tobacco in any form or alcohol should not be underscored by limiting it's use, rather stopping it all together. This would be impossible since many lawmakers are users of both of these "drugs". There is no moral or decent argument supporting the use of either. You can dress us a Jackass, but all you really have is a Jackass in a dress. Bear

If tobacco is so terrible, why don’t our elected representatives just outlaw it!