WHEREAS, tobacco smoking is harmful to human health; and

WHEREAS, the world needs more food crops grown on the limited areas of fertile land; and

WHEREAS, the United States Department of Agriculture spends many millions of dollars each year to support tobacco production; and

WHEREAS, such tax money should be used for more constructive purposes, not for the encouragement of farming practices that are ultimately detrimental to consumers;

BE IT RESOLVED: That the 1978 General Assembly of the Unitarian Universalist Association urges the United States Congress to terminate all price support programs for tobacco, beginning with the 1980 crop of tobacco, and to establish a program funded over a four-year period by part of the money thus saved to assist small farmers to convert from tobacco to the production of other commodities.