Tobacco.org

N.M. Tribes To Join Tobacco Suit 

Six New Mexico pueblos and 28 other tribes around the United States plan to file a lawsuit in state district court today complaining that tobacco companies and their cigarettes have wreaked havoc on American Indians' health.

Lawyers for the tribes say the companies focused on Native Americans, who begin smoking at younger ages than Anglos and smoke more, at a cost of nearly $200 million a year for treatment of smoking-related illnesses at federally supported hospitals. . . "A sacred object has been turned into a harmful product," Hale said. "Tobacco was given to us by the holy people." . . "They have marketed this with stories of 'earth boy' and others that tobacco plays an important role to Native Americans, and this is totally misleading," Branch said in a telephone interview. "These cute little stories have gotten young people hooked and addicted to cigarettes."

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