Thursday, January 30, 2014
January 31, 2014 - Issue #745"The reason why men enter into society is the preservation of their property." - John Locke |
CA Mayor is Proud of "F for Smoking Freedom", Wears Cigar Tie and All Black. Santee receives the lowest score in the county in the American Lung Association's 2014 report on tobacco control policies, and the mayor loves it. "If you want to smoke, that's your business. I proudly as mayor accept the F grade for freedom," said Mayor Randy Voepel. Santee received the lowest score in the county Wednesday in the American Lung Association's 2014 report on tobacco control policies (F's in all three categories), again, because it's the only city that still allows smoking at public parks. He emphasized that Santee's not alone in being graded an F. Most cities in San Diego County received poor grades, and 60 percent received an F grade.
Exploding the myth that second-hand smoke causes cancer. By Michael Enright. The answer lies not in science but in culture. This was the thinking of study researcher Dr. Jyoti Patel of Northwestern University School of Medicine who wrote: "The strongest reason to avoid passive cigarette smoke is to change societal behaviour; to not live in a society where smoking is the norm." Well, bravo. An admirable objective. But that is social engineering, not medicine.
Powerful US lobby group fights cigarette packaging changes. The Association of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys, an international lobby group, said the impact of plain packaging could go far beyond the tobacco industry and could set a "precedent" for other areas "such as sugar, soft drinks, alcohol, fast food etc." The world's largest business federation with three million business members said it had "deep concerns" about what it called the State's "proposed destruction of trademark and branding rights in the tobacco sector."
UK Ofsted Privacy Alert: Army of door-knocking neighbours should be paid to keep "bad parents" in line. "Good citizens" should be given financial incentives to knock on their neighbours' doors in the morning to make sure they are getting their children to school, says Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw. "As an ex-headteacher I saw the result of children being brought up badly by their parents," he said. He said that social workers must give problem families "tough messages" and set them targets accompanied by the threat of action if they fail.
*** Two class action suits brought by Quebec smokers against three tobacco companies. Now... Anti-smoking group files complaint against doctor who says nicotine is not addictive. In his complaint to the College, Quebec Director of the NSRA Francois Damphousse accuses Bourget of offering "specious and misleading arguments" in her report to the court and expressing doubt that nicotine can legitimately be considered an addictive drug.
*** Quebec Alert: Physicians and patients are calling on the public to help them convince the Health Minister to adopt new smoking prevention measures. *** New concern about e-cigarettes: They're making smoking 'normal' again. E-cigarettes, those battery-powered nicotine vapor delivery systems that are infiltrating the airwaves, schoolyards, and public spaces, are threatening to undo a decades-long campaign to stigmatize smoking. *** Sarah Jarvis: Sky News viewers were hoodwinked into thinking that they were watching the views and opinions of a medical expert acting in her capacity as an impartial Doctor explaining concerns about electronic cigarettes - when, in fact, they were watching a Pfizer spokesperson attack a competitor product. *** UK Meets the e-cig. Watch the documentary The Rise of the E Cigarette. If you are not doing it yourself, doubtless you know someone who is trying to quit smoking. What I've discovered in researching E-cigarettes is that many highly-respected experts believe we have the chance of a lifetime to turn the tide on tobacco. |
 World Smokers Blogs: Watch instant postings to your favorite blogs. |
Thursday, January 23, 2014
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January 24, 2014 - Issue #744 "But you can't make people listen. They have to come round in their own time, wondering what happened and why the world blew up around them." - Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 |
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"Statement of purpose of bill as introduced: This bill proposes to ban the sale or possession of electronic cigarettes." 
Boston Protest: Smokers Are Planning A Protest On Boston Common April 20. Organizers are encouraging people to show up at the park near the State House on Saturday, and start puffing away on cigarettes, marijuana, and vaporizers in order to send a message to City Hall that their new ordinance is out of line. Cann said he understands the city's concern about the dangers of second-hand smoke, but thinks that the way in which the ordinance is written goes overboard. He said the law is a "huge waste of resources," and he feels as though it could lead to problems like New York City's "Stop and Frisk" program.
The Nasal Ranger Field Olfactometer. Denver police are using a nose telescope to sniff out people's weed. Denver is one of a handful of cities with a new odor ordinance, which ACLU lawyer Mark Silverstein called a "tremendous overreach, ill-advised, unnecessary and unconstitutional," carrying a hefty $2,000 fine for smelly violators. Right off the bat, it seems like abandoning the device altogether and using the nose God gave you might be an easier method of figuring out if there's a disruptive amount odor in the air, and since the real measurement is still based on the smelling skills of the cop with the Nasal Ranger, there's no real reliability or standard on which to base a fine or arrest. In October, the Denver City Council proposed a list of rules concerning the use of marijuana, one of which could potentially make it a crime to have the smell of pot wafting into public from inside a private residence, over a backyard fence or through air ducts.
Reminder: In 2005 Despite Gordon's best efforts, a night on the town seemed to have a minimal effect on his body''s carbon monoxide levels. Scottish Executive suggested we might like to go on a pub crawl armed with a device for measuring air pollutants. It would show the threat of passive smoking in pubs. We agreed but, after seeing our test results, the Executive might be wishing they hadn't bothered. We took a carbon monoxide monitor, similar to a traffic cop's breathalyser, to measure the amount of the gas, a poisonous component of cigarette smoke, we breathed in. "In our view, ventilation can get rid of any ill-effects and has not been considered because the Government is trying to take away free choice regarding cigarettes."
ISU researcher quits amid allegations of AIDS-research fraud involving millions of federal dollars. An Iowa State University professor has resigned after being accused of spiking rabbit blood to make it appear that an AIDS vaccine was working better in the research animals than it really was. Dr. Dong-Pyou Han was an assistant professor of biomedical sciences. The fraudulent results helped an ISU research team gain millions of dollars in federal money, according to Dr. James Bradac, who helps oversee AIDS vaccine grants for the National Institutes of Health. Glantz (and Grana and Benowitz) cannot even get the simple facts straight. By Carl V Phillips. Stanton Glantz has demonstrated once again why he had to get out of engineering and move into the tobacco control industry where not getting the facts right does not cause things to fall down (indeed, it is more or less a mandatory qualification). He, along with his coauthors Rachel Grana and Neal Benowitz were hired by the anti-THR WHO to write what I have been told is a ham-handed hatchet job on e-cigarettes. Read More: About Stanton Glantz. Doctor of WHAT? Heartland Institute Experts React to Chicago's Ban on Indoor E-Cigarette Use. The Chicago City Council today banned the use of electronic cigarettes indoors - treating e-cigarettes, which emit harmless water vapor, exactly like tobacco cigarettes, which emit smoke. The goal of bans on smoking in public places has always been to reduce exposure to second-hand smoke and to allow people fewer places to smoke, with the hope that it would cause them to quit smoking. Chicago's proposed ban on e-cigarettes will do no good on either front. Tobacco Returns To The Bar, This Time Inside Cocktails. Take a sip of the Oaxacan Fizz at Father's Office in Los Angeles and you'll discover the unmistakable taste of tobacco. That's because this cocktail is sweetened with a small amount of tobacco-infused sugar syrup. "A lot of people say, 'I only smoke when I drink,'" says chef-owner Sang Yoon. "We say, 'Now you can do both.'" The take-home message from Glantz is that drinking tobacco is not a great way to kick back and relax. |
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Wednesday, January 15, 2014
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January 17, 2014 - Issue #743 "You know, the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common: they don't alter their views to fit the facts; they alter the facts to fit their views." - 4th Doctor on The Face Of Evil |
 The Smoking Scene In China. If you're smoking in a public space in China right now (bar, restaurant, hospital waiting room, domestic flight, hotel lobby, etc.), then you're breaking the law. But then again, if you're smoking in a public space in China right now, you probably won't get into much trouble. Russian Police to Accept Submitted Videos as Evidence of Smoking Law Violations. Cigarette smokers of Moscow, already beleaguered by last month's ban on smoking in public places, must now be advised to beware any passerby with a recording device if they decide to risk having a smoke inside. Moscow police officers will accept photographs and video recordings of people smoking in entranceways as evidence of a crime, Lyudmila Stebenkova, head of the Moscow City Duma's committee for public health, said. USA, Georgia: Pinkie Master's Bar Fights Smoking Ban. "There's a lot of trash outside now. And we've gotten a lot of complaints trying to shut us down," said Mallory Jen, manager of Pinkie Master's on Drayton Street, which is known to be Savannah's oldest bar. Jen says Pinkie Master's used to be a popular place for smokers. "We never had any problems or complaints at all so long as everyone was inside," Jen said. USA,Indiana: Tobacco-Free Advocates Worry About Budget Cuts. Any cut in those funds would force DCHD to do less work - especially in regards to smoking prevention among children and pregnant women - with perhaps fewer people. The department is already working with fewer staff than recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. USA, Oklahoma: Protesters At Capitol Send 'Smoke Signal' To Governor Fallin. Smoking is illegal on state property, but dozens were doing just that Wednesday at the state capitol. They were protesting a ban on e-cigarettes that took effect Jan. 1. The group says they believe Gov. Mary Fallin overstepped her authority when she banned e-cigarettes on all state property. "All we are asking is for a fair shot," said Houchen. "Give us our voice with our representatives and our state senators. Let us provide them with information." 
First tobacco, now sugar. Next they'll be regulating our trousers. Launched on Thursday, the pressure group helpfully explained to the nation that sugar consumption is "linked to obesity". Like all those with a need to nanny other adults, it intends to save us from the threat, whether we like it or not. As the latest in a series of "action on" organisations, its formula is drearily predictable: regulation and taxes ought to be brought in - for our own good, of course.
The EU's "lifestyle policy" By Christopher Snowdon. A paper has just been published online by Alberto Alemanno and Amandine Garde titled 'The Emergence of an EU Lifestyle Policy: The Case of Alcohol, Tobacco and Unhealthy Diets'. One of the few things I like about the EU is that they call 'public health' what it is: 'lifestyle regulation' and this is a fine example of it. Did any of the member states who joined the EEC expect it to lead to an international 'lifestyle policy'? I doubt it, but we're going to get it anyway. POOR PEOPLE ARE GETTING PLUMP? GOOD. It's perverse to expect us to panic about obesity in the Third World. Obesity quadruples to nearly one billion in developing world, BBC News warned last Friday. It seems it's not just people in rich countries who are getting fat. The whole world is getting fatter and something must be done. Five Reasons Why You Should Probably Stop Using Antibacterial Soap. As the FDA recently noted, antibacterial products are no more effective than soap and water, and could be dangerous. About 75 percent of liquid antibacterial soaps and 30 percent of bars use a chemical called triclosan as an active ingredient. Top 20 Rebuttals to Win an E-Cigarette Debate. Do you have friends or family members who constantly nag you about your electronic cigarette use? Or maybe you're like us and have read countless articles that ignorantly bash e-cigs with either no solid support to their arguments or blatant misinterpretation of research. More proof bans have NOTHING to do with smoke: Senators want awards show to be free of e-cigarettes. Sens. Dick Durbin of Illinois, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Edward Markey of Massachusetts on Tuesday pressed Golden Globes' broadcaster NBC Universal and the show's sponsor, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, to promise that future broadcasts refrain from showing the so-called e-cigarettes and, by doing so, avoid the "glamorization of smoking and protect the health of young fans." |
 THE ANTI-TOBACCO RECIPE FOR SUCCESS1. Choose an industry. 2. Regulate the industry. 3. Tax the industry. 4. Sue the industry. When one source of money dries up, return to Step 1 and repeat. By S. Phillipe |
