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Letter: Cigarette factory unwise

As I sit in Veterans' General Hospital in Taipei waiting to have a wisdom tooth removed, I can't help but reflect on our lack of insight when I think about the planned construction of a large cigarette factory in Taiwan ("UK tobacco giant to build plant in Miaoli County," March 1, page 12).

The Imperial Tobacco Group (ITG) is surely more than happy to have us focus our attention on the 300 jobs their factory is expected to create. And it would gladly agree with Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻) that their US$85 million investment will significantly boost the central and county governments' tax revenues and possibly strengthen the local tobacco-growing industry.

But from inside the hospital -- a place that devotes a considerable share of its precious human and material resources to saving the lives of smokers and those who have been forced to inhale second-hand smoke -- I doubt that Liu or his new British corporate guests would be pleased to hear the uglier truth.

Miaoli County is about to welcome into its community a plant that will create products that its makers know cause widespread death, disease and social problems. Moreover, its makers actively try to get users addicted.

The Taipei Times recently reported on an authoritative study just released by Harvard University researchers that showed that cigarette makers have for at least a decade been intentionally adding increasingly high amounts of nicotine to their cigarettes to make them more addictive ("Study on nicotine levels stirs calls for new controls," Jan. 23, page 9).

Your newspaper has also run articles about the collusion between UK and US tobacco companies engaged in a well-documented conspiracy to hide the terrible effects on one's health of smoking.

This is the kind of dangerous, dishonest, greedy business Liu and company presumably spent five months trying to attract to Miaoli County.

Sitting in a hospital that is well known for the contributions it has made to public health and the nation's good reputation in the international health field, I can't help but wonder why the people of Miaoli County would assent to welcoming a facility whose purpose is so antithetical to public health and the nation's image.

Are they only considering the immediate financial rewards promised by ITG and the government they have entrusted with decisions about their future? Or were agreements cemented without the knowledge of Miaoli residents?

If the people of Miaoli are at all concerned about the less-than-savory nature of ITG, are they dealing with their anxieties by convincing themselves that most of the cigarettes manufactured at the factory will be exported to other parts of Asia?

I don't know the answers to any of these questions, but I do know that the people of Miaoli County and the rest of Taiwan can probably still prevent ITG from setting up its deadly shop here. But there is not much time left to do so.

The word "economy" comes from Greek roots meaning "Earth naming."

Let us name all the dark, horrible consequences of increasing cigarette production -- here or abroad -- and make sure Taiwan is used to create products and services that truly benefit the nation and the rest of the world.

Matt Nicodemus
Taipei
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