Ryan Bridge: The hysteria over Casey Costello's handling of smoking

The real proof will be in the pudding – if smoking rates come down, does it matter how she did it?

If it was a non-tobacco company getting a tax cut to provide a product that was less harmful than ciggies would there be outrage?

Or are we blinded by the fact it's a multinational whose legacy has been peddling cigarettes that clouds our judgement?

Are we being rational about this?

Isn't the ultimate goal to reduce smoking rates?

Are the ‘try anything, do it differently’ policies she's pushing going to bring smoking rates down?

Time will tell.

She should have been more on to it and open about…

The skinny

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