Cigarette Smoking

A brief Seventh-day Adventist perspective

Cigarette smoking is the greatest preventable cause of death in the world. The tobacco industry flourishes despite decades of research providing evidence of the hazards of cigarette smoking.

How can we work together towards a cigarette free future?

Seventh-day Adventists advocate a lifestyle free of tobacco products. The church has been warning about the health-destroying nature of this addictive behaviour for more than a century.

Adventists believe the ethics of prevention require:

• Banning all tobacco advertising
• Developing regulations for protecting children and young adults from tobacco industry advertising
• Introducing stricter laws prohibiting smoking in public places
• Promoting aggressive and systematic public education
• Imposing higher taxes on cigarettes
• Introducing regulations requiring the industry to pay for the health costs associated with the use of its products.

The Bible teaches that each human body is a "temple of the living God," which should be cared for intelligently.

One of the church's fundamental beliefs states that, "We are to adopt the most healthful diet possible. . . . Since alcoholic beverages, tobacco and the irresponsible use of drugs and narcotics are harmful to our bodies, we are to abstain from them."

The Seventh-day Adventist Church released statements on smoking and ethics in 1996, and smoking and tobacco in 1995.