May 17, 2001
Wall Street Journal Europe

International Commentary
 

Good Wins Out

Here's a rule we'd like to see McDonald's adopt: A picture of Bill
Clinton in his running shorts on every hamburger- and french fries-package sold.
That, we'd wager, would get a lot of customers thinking twice about their
actual dietary needs.

We jest, of course. But the thought comes ineluctably to mind on news
that the European Parliament approved legislation this week requiring tobacco
companies to stamp their packs with gigantic warning labels, including
"photos  and graphics" depicting the effects of smoking on gums, teeth
and lungs. As for the labels, these will cover 30% of the front of the
packs and 40% of the back (current labels cover a mere 4%); they will
warn that cigarettes can cause death, cancer, heart disease, impotence
and -- lest we forget -- sperm damage.

"The days of glamorous cigarette packs with obscure health warnings are
over," exults Labour parliamentarian Catherine Stihler.

Maybe this is what we find so insufferable about this latest bit of
nanny-statism: It isn't the message, it's the messenger. As you probably already
know, smoking is awful, terrible, atrocious, smelly, the pits. But somehow that
doesn't strike us as being quite as noxious as the odor of sanctimony steaming up from the
antismoking corner. Smoking is a serious health risk; the antismoking lobby has
succeeded in transforming it into a moral defect. This itself is kind of sick.

It's also a fact that smoking is a pleasure. It may be a bad pleasure,
but there are worse ones. Literary critic and Salon columnist Camille Paglia notes
that "tobacco, with all its long-term health risks, is a far better choice
for teenagers than the host of other legal and illegal drugs that are out there, which
dull the mind over time. Tobacco is a handmaiden of the arts -- while Ritalin,
which dopes kids into servitude, will be the end of art as we know it."

As it is, we have our doubts about the efficacy of the European
Parliament's measures. Not long ago, a company in Britain came out with the "Death"
brand of cigarettes, which mocked health warnings by printing them in huge
script. It was a hit with the public -- and a lesson for regulators.
What makes cigarettes -- along with, say, bungee jumping -- isn't the glamour. It's the dare.

Our bet is that the new labels will only heighten the attraction of
cigarettes, especially to teenagers -- another prime example of good
intentions, unintended consequences.

We once met a man, a distinguished professor at a famous university, who
tried to quit smoking but gave up. "I didn't like the nervous,
irritable, prissy person I became," he told us of his bout with good health. So he returned to his
charming, expansive, two-pack a day ways. Bad for the body? Probably.
Good for the soul? For sure. Whether right or wrong, he made his choice
without the aid of Ms. Stihler.