The short-sightedness of the anti-smoking lobby is striking indeed. They are all going nuts about a new report showing that cigarette manufacturers seem to have increased the amount of nicotine in a smoke--which, if true, would make perfect sense. There are fewer and fewer opportunities to smoke. People have to leave their workplaces and go outside, or puff as much as possible during breaks or before boarding a flight, wait through an entire meal and step outside etc. So an increase in nicotine released per smoke would be precisely would consumers would want. The idea that this is a plot to get people more hooked on the product is completely looney.
Meanwhile, the same lobby is calling for caps on nicotine levels, which will obviously increase the number of cigarettes that people smoke (all is being equal).
