>Oh, I agree fully. The manufacturers are simply skirting around the Federal and state mandates for public and worker safety. Bottom line is the bottom line. Don't imagine for a second they do it out of any concern for the public. Much simpler and cheaper to move it offshore. Now it's "someone else's problem".

Related, has anyone else been seeing those weird Phillip Morris anti-smoking ads lately? It doesn't take much imagination to figure out what's going on...

Anti-smoking is verrryyy popular in the US - my county just banned it almost entirely. But for much of the rest of world, the tobacco market is still peaking...I'll bet top dollar those PM ads aren't shown round the world.