It's tough being a smoker — or so I would imagine.

Between federal and state laws, particularly in Washington, the freedom to smoke is under assault.

And although smoking is an ambiguous freedom, one has to believe the many thousands of smokers who have been unable or unwilling to kick the habit are getting tired of the Ad Council's renditions of the miserable lives they apparently lead.

Steady tobacco tax increases have been another source of grief, and prodding from area proprietors zealous about Washington's so-called 25-foot law certainly hasn't assuaged that grief much.

But governmental persecution of the tobacco industry and tobacco users is warranted, right? The link between smoking or even second-hand smoke and cancer, along with a multitude of other life threatening conditions, has been irrefutably documented.

The crusade against tobacco then is, in a sense, for the good of society, isn't it?

Probably so, but I wonder what goal politicians really have in mind when they legislate against tobacco. I wonder if it's less about protecting people and getting at the root of the tobacco problem than about passing easy legislation for some positive PR.

Consider the efforts in the House and Senate. Cigarette sales have been banned in the Capitol and Senate office buildings, according to The Associated Press. That's borderline newsworthy, and it certainly does nothing for the average person.

To their credit, Republicans and Democrats are working to raise the federal tobacco tax by 61 cents, which might have a larger benefit if it is passed and the revenue is appropriated for child healthcare, as is currently planned. But the tobacco industry has easily survived many past tax increases and will undoubtedly survive this one.

In fact, tobacco lobbyists have been curiously absent from Capitol Hill as of late. Campaign donations were down well over 50 percent in 2006 from just a decade earlier.

Since we know Big Tobacco is still a thriving empire, there must be some logical explanation.

In fact there is an explanation, and it's perhaps one of the most diabolical I've come across in a very long time.

While public opposition to the tobacco industry in the United States has mounted and tobacco use rates among children have declined, tobacco use worldwide has continued to increase.

While domestic tobacco advertising has seen tough regulation and tobacco companies have been forced to contribute to public healthcare costs in some states, tobacco advertising and even the product itself has gone virtually unregulated in the developing world, where healthcare is often unavailable.

In fact, according to Reuters, the number of deaths attributable to smoking will double by 2030 to 10 million annually. During the same period the number of smokers worldwide is expected to increase from 1.2 billion to 1.64 billion, including children.

The United States and China are the world's top producers of cigarettes.

Whatever sympathy exists for smokers in our society — and there should be some, considering all the other vices that got by unscathed — it cannot be denied that smoking is a choice.

But for those in developing nations, the information may not even be available to make an informed choice. And as the tobacco industry has learned, uninformed people are easy to take advantage of.

If lawmakers were genuinely interested in saving lives, they would do better to take aggressive action against U.S. tobacco companies and their trade practices than to continue chasing around informed smokers with a stack of anti-smoking pamphlets and 25-foot measuring tape.

[Reach columnist Andrew D. Brown at opinoin@thedaily.washington.edu.]