What factors have forced farmers into debt?
In 2002, tobacco companies demanded that farmers convert their equipment to new nitrosamine burners to lower the carcinogen content in tobacco and were promised crop sizes that, in reality, are 49% less than promised. Announcements from the Tobacco Advisory Committee (TAC) presented a stable future outlook, with imports returning to traditional levels. Conflicting government policies aimed at discouraging youth and adult smoking have indirectly and increasingly encouraged contraband and unregulated cigarette manufacturing that are outside TAC agreements estimated at as much as one in four cigarettes in Ontario. The price difference between legal and illegal cigarettes is so large that the consumer is in revolt. The result is a price war that legal companies must engage in to keep market share undermining the Tobacco Advisory Committee negotiations. All manufacturers are not required to be part of TAC negotiations which leaves a huge gap in tobacco pricing between manufacturers. The net
