Why did Paul McCartney's cigarette disappear?

In 2003, American poster companies got into a bit of a public relations snafu when they actually used airbrushing to EDIT the Abbey Road cover for release in the United States as a poster!!!
In 2001, George Harrison of the Beatles died of lung cancer. Harrison attributed smoking as a leading cause to his cancer.
That possibly might be one of the reasons that some American poster companies actually aibrushed a cigarette out of Paul McCartney’s hand for the poster…
Apple Records, who own the rights to the image, were not asked beforehand and did not know about it until reporters contacted them.