Anti-tobacco crusaders like Gerald Oleson (BDN, June 20) feel the need to exaggerate in their furious efforts to wipe out the evil sot-weed. Although even 400,000 deaths a year attributed to tobacco is already a number that has been massaged, Oleson feels the need to inflate that number by 25 percent to 500,000.

The deceit required to arrive at even the 400,000 number can be seen in the Cato Institute’s paper, “Smoke, Lies and 400,000 Smoking-Related Deaths” (www.cato.org).

An important point in the report is that smoking-related deaths, even under the generous definitions used by CDC, are associated with old age – early 60 percent of the deaths occur at age 70 or above; nearly 45 percent at age 75 or above; and almost 17 percent at the grand old age of 85 or above.

Nevertheless, without the slightest embarrassment, the public health community persists in characterizing those deaths as “premature.” Regrettable, yes; premature, no.

While I commiserate with Oleson on his own personal fight with cancer and congratulate him on being a survivor, I feel it is important to fight tobacco or any thing else that is deemed “bad” with truth and real facts not exaggerations, fabrications and outright lies.

Stephen J. Kouroyen

Bangor