While cigarette hazards and effects are new to some people, they are not new in fact. Indeed, as long ago as 1836, the Farmer's Almanac said tobacco was killing tens of thousands of Americans, details at https://medicolegal.tripod.com/toxicchemicals.htm.

           Back then, in the nineteenth century, members of the clergy and the faith community worked with the medical community. Cigarette selling was deemed not only bad for health, but a sin, details at https://medicolegal.tripod.com/bibvcigs.htm, a word we don't hear much anymore. Our devout ancestors actually believed in "Thou shalt not kill," Exodus 20:13.

           They understood the fullness of the meaning, including when a product kills a customer or third party. They understood that the Bible (Exodus 21:28-29) and "Thou shalt not kill" in its full intent, says to execute the seller. That's a real "product liability" law, one that, unlike mere money reimbursement (such as modern lawsuits merely seek), actually deters! Actually ends the problem!

           So some of our devout ancestors devised the best form of cigarette control, a law incorporating both smokers' and nonsmokers' rights, a law requiring that cigarettes be like all other products, safe for their intended use. This concept bans the unsafe ones, the ones causing the deaths.

           Our devout ancestors got Michigan to adopt this type of law, MCL § 750.27, MSA § 28.216, in 1909, details at https://medicolegal.tripod.com/michiganlaw.htm. The concept that selling dangerous products is a sin, and of requiring that cigarettes be safe, is still a good one. All Christians support the command, "Thou shalt not kill." Tell them how to comply: don't be involved in killing your fellow man, don't grow, manufacture or sell tobacco, nor aid and abet doing so. Neither sin nor be accessory to sin (the appearance of evil).

           The clergy and the faith community are once again requested to speak out concerning the fullness of the command, "Thou shalt not kill." Please do so in sermons and in Bible Studies. A sample for use is at https://medicolegal.tripod.com/bibvcigs.htm.