There is something amazing going on in the Netherlands. This is post is about a hero’s journey of a lung cancer patient fighting against the tobacco industry.

A deadly multi-billion-dollar-industry

We all know smoking is one of the greatest and deadliest kind of addictions on this planet. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) it kills up to half of its users. On average, there is a revenue stream of around 400 billion dollars. The latest research conducted by the WHO states that for every dollar spend on cigarettes there is 1,5 dollars spent on tobacco related health expenses. It’s ironic really, on the one side governments funding NGO’s so they can launch anti smoke campaigns and on the other side tobacco products are a revenue stream because of the tax they receive from it. But I do think it’s very important to help and inform smokers and non-smokers to create a front against this deadly multi-billion-dollar corporate entity. This is what I see when I type ‘anti cigarettes campaigns 2017´ in google images:

Isn't this great? Great to see that there have been that many campaigns launched last year. The dutch are also playing their part. We have our own national media campaign to achieve a smoke free environment for the younger and future generations. I do experience that less and less people are smoking cigarettes. Slowly the campaigns to ban tobacco is reshaping the norms and the values globally in relation to smoking. Now, over to the hero’s journey.

SICK OF SMOKING by Anne Marie van Veen

In 2016 lung cancer patient Anne Marie van Veen (47) has filed a police report with her lawyer Bénédicte Ficq against four of the biggest cigarette manufacturers for making the product more addictive and creating misleading promotion campaigns. This brave action what looks like a ‘David against the Goliath’-type situation has gotten some great media coverage back then. Their campaign got great attention and lot of dutch people supported the report.

“If I keep feeding my children rat poison and they will die, I will be convicted for murder. The tobacco industry does that same thing and roams free” - Anne Marie van Veen.

Fast forward to this month and this is the exceptional part of it. Earlier this month, I saw a news report that two hospitals, in Amsterdam and in Groningen, has supported the file against the tobacco industry as well. I thought yeah, that’s good!!

Then, a couple days later, I saw an article that the national institution of addiction treatment (Verslavingskunde Nederland) supported the police report as well. Months went by but now the ball is finally rolling. I thought wow that’s a huge kick to the industry, the snowball effect is activated. Yup, that was the case. One day later the news headline stated: ‘Amsterdam and Utrecht supporting the report against tobacco industry’, in Dutch of course. Now two of the biggest city councils are supporting this initiative started by two individuals! But this isn’t all folks.

Yesterday (9th of February) the support group expands even further. The dutch association of child medical science (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Kindergeneeskunde) just let the press now they will support the file as well. How many parties will support this file? I don't know, I am not a medium (I am a steemian). But looking forward to where this leads to.

Now folks, this is a real hero’s journey. One human being suffering from a deadly disease but strong enough to devote a fight against a sociopathic and deadly industry. Together with her lawer achieving a nationwide support against the corporate tobacco industry. This case demonstrates that one person can achieve greatness and one person can have an impact on the many.

As a former full-time smoker and with parents whom are victims of this industry too I can be nothing but grateful that this woman kept on fighting for her mission. With more and more organizations and city councils supporting the extinction of cigarettes it will be just a matter of time that our future generation can grow up in a global cigarette-free environment.

Do you want to support the police report as well?? Feel free to show you support on https://sickofsmoking.nl/en/

#NoTobacco

The WHO has launched her campaign against the tobacco industry: Say No To Tobacco. As part of this campaign 31th of may will be No Tobacco Day. For more information and ways to actively join this campaign check their website: http://www.who.int/tobacco/wntd/en/

Sources:
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs339/en/
https://nos.nl/artikel/2214769-antoni-van-leeuwenhoek-doet-aangifte-tegen-tabaksindustrie.html
https://www.ad.nl/binnenland/ook-kinderartsen-doen-aangifte-tegen-tabakindustrie~a99c1357/
https://www.volkskrant.nl/wetenschap/steun-voor-aangifte-tegen-tabaksindustrie-groeit-ook-amsterdam-en-utrecht-doen-mee~a4567368/