吸煙有害健康（五）
SECONDHAND SMOKE
ADDICTION
Of all the diseases associated with smoking, addiction is perhaps the one that receives the least attention. But President Clinton declared nicotine an addictive drug last August. In March, the Liggett Group, makers of Chesterfield and Lark brand cigarettes, admitted that cigarettes were addictive and cause cancer and agreed to pay about $750 million total to 22 states that had filed suit to force tobacco companies to pay for Medicaid for smoking-related illnesses.
Scott Harshbarger, the Massachusetts attorney general and president of the National Association of Attorneys General, told reporters that the Liggett deal "will produce information that indicates major tobacco companies were fully aware that the product they were selling is addictive, that the product they were selling had great impact on public health".
Other tobacco companies are clearly none too keen on the Liggett deal. For them, nicotine remains what they call a harmless flavor enhancement.
煙癮
在所有和吸煙有關的疾病中，也許人們最容易忽略的就是吸煙上癮。然而，去年8月，克林頓總統宣布尼古丁為使人上癮的麻醉藥物。今年(指 2000――編者注)3月，生產切斯特菲爾德和云雀牌香煙的利格特集團承認吸煙使人上癮并會引發癌癥，并且同意向22個州支付總額為7．5億美元的賠償金，這22個州提起了訴訟，要求煙草公司向治療與吸煙有關的疾病的醫療補助制度進行賠償。
馬薩諸塞州首席檢察官、全美首席檢察官協會會長斯哥特?哈什伯杰對記者說，對利格特集團的處理"將帶來這樣一個信息，那就是，大煙草公司充分意識到了他們出售的產品會使人上癮，他們出售的產品對大眾的健康影響極大"。
很顯然，其他煙草公司中沒有一家對利格特集團的處理感興趣。對他們來說，尼古丁仍然是他們所稱的無害的提味劑。
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