The friendly folks in the tobacco industry keep spewing out lies and manipulation. To them, we are nothing but lifeless moneysacks shackled to keep the fat cats of management filthy rich. This is a small sample of the 40 million secret tobacco industry documents the public has gotten its hands on, holding evidence of their sinister intentions.

The facts don’t lie. The tobacco industry does.   

• Knowing the LGBT community are 33% more likely to smoke than their straight peers, tobacco companies zero in on those with an alternative lifestyle. It’s an initiative they coined Project SCUM.  (1)
• The machine targets grade school children as ‘replacement smokers’, knowing their products will eventually kill current customers. (2)
• To keep smokers addicted and subdued, one cigarette company biologically engineers tobacco plants to contain double the standard level of nicotine. (3)
• Tobacco farms bulldoze and chop down 500,000 acres of forest area each year to grow their crops. (4)
• Big Tobacco invests more than $400 per customer on promotional material, coupons, and mailers to keep feeding their addictions. (4)
• In 2015, the tobacco industry spent $309,000 per day to market tobacco products to Coloradans. (5)
• Vulnerable young children and teens are lured and trapped by e-cigarette manufacturers with attractive fruit and candy flavors such as watermelon, banana, pineapple and strawberry shortcake as bait. (4)
• Cigarette companies have coughed up nearly $27 million for lobbying government agencies and members of Congress. (4)
• If tobacco farmers grew food instead, they would help feed more than 70% of the world’s 28 million malnourished people. (4)
• Cigarette companies targets younger people during potentially stressful transition periods, such as starting a new job, school year or entering the military to get them hooked. (6)
• Inside convenience stores, 50% of tobacco ads were located at kids’ eye level while 23% were located within six inches of candy products. (5) 

Sources:
1. Slate.com, “'Freedom' and 'Choice': How Cigarette Companies Target the LGBTQ Community," July 2015.
2. Tobaccofreekids.org, January 2014.
3. New York Times, “Cigarette Company Developed Tobacco with Stronger Nicotine: Head of FDA Tells of Chemical Mainpulation," June 1994. 
4. Huffington Post. “12 things the tobacco industry doesn’t want you to know." July 2013.
5. http://www.tobaccofreeco.org/the-facts/tobacco-industry
6. U.S. National Library of Medicine “Why and How the Tobacco Industry Sells Cigarettes to Young Adults: Evidence from Industry Documents.” June 2002.