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Jesse Helms said, in part, >No formula for funding disease research, prevention and treatment will >please everyone. But how funds are allocated must be determined by >common sense. *** American lives are simply too important to allow narrow >pressure groups to hold the final say. *** I certainly agree with the last sentence. The tobacco industry is one such pressure group. What other industry can legally sell a product that takes more than 300,000 lives each year? The subsidies for tobacco farmers pale in comparison to the burden on our health care system. How much does it cost to treat lung cancer? How much does it cost to take care of an emphysema patient? I read somewhere that the estimated cost is $65 billion a year (equal to Phillip Morris' annual sales revenues). I can think of lots of things to do with $65 billion (less tobacco taxes, which would disappear if we abolished this renegade industry). A few billion for Parkinson's research, another few billion for cancer, maybe investigation of the aging process (which causes many diseases), and so on. Isn't Mr. Helms from one of those states with this "narrow pressure group?" -Bill Levinson