U.S. Presidential Candidates Receiving Money from Tobacco Companies..

September 3, 2007 - U.S. Presidential Candidates Receiving Money from Tobacco Companies. Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Cigarette smoking causes an estimated 438,000 deaths, or about 1 of every 5 deaths, each year. This estimate includes approximately 38,000 deaths from secondhand smoke exposure. More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined. On average, adults who smoke cigarettes die 14 years earlier than nonsmokers. Based on current cigarette smoking patterns, an estimated 25 million Americans who are alive today will die prematurely from smoking-related illnesses, including 5 million people younger than 18. (U.S. DHHS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) 

Presidential Candidates receiving tobacco money: Rudolph Giuliani - $69,500 , Christopher Dodd - $45,400 , Hillary Clinton - $32,300 , Mitt Romney - $31,400 , Barack Obama - $7,885 , and Joe Biden - $4,000 . (Derrick Z. Jackson, The Boston Globe, Raleigh News & Observer) Click on image to enlarge..