Cite as: 533 U. S. 525 (2001)
Opinion of Thomas, J.
(referring to tobacco use as "one of the State's—and indeed the Nation's—most urgent problems"); Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 19-20 (cataloging the prevalence and the effects of tobacco use); Brief for American Medical Association et al. as Amici Curiae 24 (advocating "the authority of governments to protect children from uniquely dangerous messages"). Smoking poses serious health risks, and advertising may induce children (who lack the judgment to make an intelligent decision about whether to smoke) to begin smoking, which can lead to addiction. The State's assessment of the urgency of the problem posed by tobacco is a policy judgment, and it is not this Court's place to second-guess it. Nevertheless, it seems appropriate to point out that to uphold the Massachusetts tobacco regulations would be to accept a line of reasoning that would permit restrictions on advertising for a host of other products.
Tobacco use is, we are told, "the single leading cause of preventable death in the United States." Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 19. The second largest contributor to mortality rates in the United States is obesity. Koplan & Dietz, Caloric Imbalance and Public Health Policy, 282 JAMA 1579 (1999). It is associated with increased incidence of diabetes, hypertension, and coronary artery disease, ibid., and it represents a public health problem that is rapidly growing worse. See Mokdad et al., The Spread of the Obesity Epidemic in the United States, 1991-1998, 282 JAMA 1519 (1999). Although the growth of obesity over the last few decades has had many causes, a significant factor has been the increased availability of large quantities of high-calorie, high-fat foods. See Hill, Environmental Contributions to the Obesity Epidemic, 280 Science 1371 (1998). Such foods, of course, have been aggressively marketed and promoted by fast food companies. See Nestle & Jacobson, Halting the Obesity Epidemic, U. S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, 115 Public Health Reports 12, 18 (2000).
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