"Smoking as a Civic Duty"

1. “We should even think of smoking as a civic duty.”By: Troy Dunnahoe

2. About the Organization: The Competitive Enterprise Institute is a public interest group dedicated to free enterprise and limited government. They believe that the best solutions come from people making their own choices in a free market place, rather than government intervention.

3. About the Organization: They believe anything that government has written regarding rules to regulate, they have an opinion on how it could be done better. They not only do groundbreaking research to identify and articulate solutions to problems, but also defend and promote those same solutions.

4. About the Organization: CEI uses a “full service approach” by getting their ideas heard, working with policymakers to get them implemented, and even when necessary, will argue their ideas in court. All this helps them be an effective and powerful force for freedom.

5. About the Organization: Since the organization started in 1984, they have reach over 40 policy experts and staff. List of Experts List of Adjunct Scholars List of Contributors A time line of the organization can be viewed here.

6. Problem: In response to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) warning about secondhand smoke causing lung cancer, the CEI began running newspaper articles against the warning. CEI’s policy analyst, Alexander Volokh brought up an idea of his own, “Perhaps, in the fine tradition of civil disobedience championed by the Thoreau, we should even think of smoking as a civic duty.”

7. Problem: In the same article, Volokh even thought “every January 11, the anniversary of the Surgeon General’s 1964 report on smoking, we should all light up, giving a filter-tipped finger, as it were, to the health obsessed government.” Although Volokh understood the governments’ warning were for the health and safety of everyone, he felt “there are things more valuable than health.”

8. Time Line: 1964 Surgeon General declared smoking to be harmful and strongly discouraged it. 1984 Competitive Enterprise Institute was launched by Fred Smith, his wife, Fran Smith, and Cesar Conda. 1993 The Environmental Protection Agency made their risk assessment linking secondhand cigarette smoke to lung cancer.

9. Time Line: 1994 The CEI argued the EPA’s warnings and Alexander Volokh made his statement regarding “smoking as a civic duty.”

10. Key Publics: Characters in this case are: Alexander Volokh Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Primary Publics: Prominent decision makers The people around the world

11. Human Factors People in general The CEI is encouraging everyone to smoke, which will lead to unhealthy life styles for smokers and nonsmokers all over the globe. Everyone is affected by this.

12. Ethical and Legal Considerations: Smoking is not illegal. And until it us, there will be organizations out there to either support smoking or not to. The statements mentioned by Alexander were in no way related to any legal issues. However, they were unethical.

13. Ethical and Legal Consideration To encourage everyone to smoke “as a civic duty” and to make a statement is highly unethical. The CEI understands that smoking is harmful to everyone, however they feel we the people should make the decision to do so without the government involvement. Smoking is already being limited to 18-year-olds and older, being banned from certain Universities, not being allowed in restaurants or bars, and any other non-smoking ordnances.

14. IMC: Although unethical, CEI is sticking with their beliefs and values. Showing their commitment to the issues they feel strongly about, regardless of how it may perceive them to be. This case study is a positive in retrospect to the organization and a negative one on ethics. I believe the organization is doing well on promoting their ideas to the general public.

15. Additional Information: Case Study Article: Article Competitive Enterprise Institute Website Website