Thursday, September 25, 2014
September 26, 2014 - Issue #773"Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others." - John F. Kennedy |
Islamic State lifts smoking ban in Kirkuk. Authorities in Iraqi province seek to counter increasing hostility from locals. Vendors in the region can now openly sell cigarettes without fear of prosecution, according to a report published Thursday by the Arabic-language Almada Press news agency.
Leonard Cohen Update: Leonard Cohen turns 80 today, and he's marking his eighth decade by returning to a vice he gave up in his fifth: The "Hallelujah" scribe unabashedly says he's going to start smoking again. Far from hanging up his famous fedora, Cohen is also marking his milestone with a new album, Popular Problems, that's out on Tuesday. Of reaching 80, he tells Rolling Stone,"There's a lot of things that you can do that you couldn't do when you were younger."
Introducing BSCiTS: The Behavioral Study of Cigarette and Tobacco Substitution. How do electronic cigarettes affect smoking behavior? By Dr. Michael Siegel, MD, MPH. You've seen the headlines and heard the debate about electronic cigarettes. Now help us discover how this controversial product impacts smoking behavior when compared to the nicotine patch.
IL Chicago: Even the Cops at Riot Fest Think the Smoking Ban Is 'Stupid.' Surprise: No one at Riot Fest cares much for the recently passed ban on smoking in public parks. Riot Fest staff member Eddie Hernandez, 50 and a nonsmoker, said, "There should be no human being that can own the air. The water and the air belong to the people. Whether you smoke or not, that's nobody's business." OH Cleveland: RTA will test for nicotine in employees who volunteer. RTA employees who take a voluntary nicotine-screening test and pass muster as smoke free can reduce their insurance costs starting next year. "I'm just wondering, where does it stop?" Serrano said. "It's nicotine now. What's next? I just think it's intrusive." Australia Fat Tax: PUP Senator Glenn Lazarus calls for fat tax in maiden speech to Parliament. “While respected for our love of sport, Australia is today ranked as one of the fattest nations in the developed world,” the former rugby league legend said. He called for tax incentives, concessions and other types of incentives to be looked at to target the behaviour of consumption. Australia Nanny State: Watch MyChoice Australia event held in sydney on fighting back against the nanny state with Christopher Snowdon from the Institute of Economic Affairs, Dr Julie Novak from the Institute for Public Affairs, and Cassandra Wilkinson from the Centre for Independent Studies. 
How to make a comment to ASHRAE: ASHRAE has apparently made the public comment as hard as they possibly could. Comments on ASHRAE's blog do not count as a public comment,you must go through and use their system for it to count. ASHRAE suggested changed to the standards of indoor air quality. Those proposed changes included treating cannabis and MMJ exactly the same as ETS or environmental tobacco smoke.
|
|
Big Pharma GSK: Contaminated liquid rejected by the GSK site in Rixensart no risk to public health. 45 liters of liquid contaminated with polio virus have been rejected from the production site to the GSK Rixensart local sewage treatment plant of Rosieres and subsequently in Lasne River. People who have been in contact with the water and are worried should contact their family doctor to see whether revaccination is necessary.
Big Pharma GSK: China Fines GlaxoSmithKline $485 Million for Bribery. The pharma company admits it's at fault and will not appeal. After a one-day secret trial, a Chinese court has fined pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) $489 million for bribing hospitals and doctors to use their products. Big Pharma Pfizer: Chantix Plaintiffs Expert Seeks Pfizer Documents. Both wrote about how smoking cessation treatments like Chantix were associated with a higher incidence of depression, suicide and violence toward other people. They have specifically requested that documents in support of the plaintiffs' claim for punitive damages be unsealed. They argue that the documents were sealed because they were stamped confidential by Pfizer, not because the documents contain trade secrets, personal information or any other type of information that should be legitimately kept out of the public record. - AND - New FDA label bolsters safety case for Chantix. The FDA first began investigating potential side effects with Chantix in 2007, the year after it hit the market. |
Thursday, September 18, 2014
|
September 19, 2014 - Issue #772 "True genius resides in the capacity for evaluation of uncertain, hazardous, and conflicting information." - Winston Churchill |
Conflicting Information on use of e-cigarettes, cigarettes, and cannabis. The Indefatigable Frog, or Why this won't stop us! So, ask youselves. Why am I angry? Why are many vapers angry? We did what you want, just not how you wanted us to, or BECAUSE you wanted us to, and you still persist with the demonisation. Except, this time, you are lying about us personally.
International Call to Action! Tell the World Health Organization How E-Cigarettes Have Changed Your Life. WHO is, to put it mildly, anti e-cigarette and has called for strict regulation of e-cigarettes, including a ban on e-cigarette use in public places. It sees e-cigarettes as challenging the core message of tobacco control and as a threat to WHO's goals of a tobacco-free world. Here is how to email, write, phone, and fax the people involved. Truth in Media: Feds Says Cannabis Is Not Medicine - While Holding The Patent on Cannabis as Medicine. Right now there is an awakening to the benefits of cannabis for medicinal purposes, specifically something called CBD oil. But is the new CBD craze being manipulated by media and politicians? If it weren't we wouldn't need to do a show about it. The first step toward truth is to be informed. 
Conflicting Wine Update: A bottle of wine a day is not bad for you and abstaining is worse than drinking, scientist claims. Former World Health Organisation alcohol expert Dr Kari Poikolainen has analysed decades of research into the effects of alcohol on the human body. His conclusion - drinking is only harmful when you consume more than 13 units a day - that's four to five pints of beer or more than a bottle of wine - which typically contains around 10 units. - AND - A bottle of wine a day is harmless? The evidence suggests otherwise. - AND - UK Health ministers want to take the alcohol out of wine.
Salt: Why Top Experts Give Wildly Conflicting Advice And What To Do Until They Figure It Out. The media were split. NPR, reported that salt is a "global killer", while the Wall Street Journal warns that low sodium diets may "pose health risks." It is possible to sort through the mess and decide whether you can safely salt your popcorn. Scientists on both sides come armed with data, so figuring out who is right requires a look at the way they are interpreting data and which assumptions they put behind it.
Soda makers headed down same road as tobacco. Soda makers are "taking a page out of the tobacco playbook by focusing in styles, flavors and price/mix to manage volume declines," Cowen analyst Vivien Azer writes. Tobacco's decades-old flight to filters and nicotine lights, for example, preceded soda's rollout of diet and decaffeinated drinks. Flavors encompass menthol, in one instance, and the reintroduction of Fanta, in the other. Mix shifts have to do with packaging - different colors and designs - all in an effort to engage new consumer niches with a differentiated brand.
CA: Turlock Park. Local fumes over potential smoking ban. Girl Scout troop members are championing an effort to rid Turlock's park of smoking. "You're trying to take a freedom away and we've already lost enough freedoms," said Carter. GA: A Macon Nightclub Ends A Smoking Ban, 17 Days After They Began It. On Tuesday, management said "we goofed." "Our customers have expressed a desire to go back to the way things were. And, in fact, the non-smokers were not becoming customers as fast as the smokers were becoming non-customers. KS: If you smoke, you're out. Patients sneaking a smoke or a chew at Salina Regional Health Center or any of the hospital's other properties will be sent away. The hospital warned that patients who violate the policy will be discharged and considered leaving against medical advice. A nurse will remove the intravenous tube if they have one; tests and treatments will cease and the patient will be instructed to call for a ride home. KY: Smoking Ban Passes in Owensboro. Henceforth, if you're in a public place like a park or an outdoor dining facility, you will no longer be able to smoke. Big events like, say, the Barbecue Festival? Forget it. Don't light up. NY: Bloomberg-Era Reforms Haven't Stopped New Yorkers From Smoking. New York City's smoking rate has gone up. Nobody listened to Nanny Bloomberg. The National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank, took the city to task for its smoking regulations. "This failure in public policy provides the most striking and objective evidence to date showing that Mayor Bloomberg's aggressive anti-smoking campaign has been ineffective," said Jeff Stier, senior fellow at the National Center. UK: Health chief steps down after crude 'e-cig' rant on Twitter. Professor John Ashton quit role as president of Faculty of Public Health. He hit back at one, saying: "Have you always been an anonymous c***." And he told another: "I think I have identified a new species of human being this week. Obsessive, compulsive, abusive onanist with ecig tendencies." |
 |
Thursday, September 11, 2014
|
September 12, 2014 - Issue #771 "The one thing ... that is truly ugly is the climate of hate and intimidation, created by a noisy few, which makes the decent majority reluctant to air in public their views on anything controversial. Where all pretend to be thinking alike, it's likely that no one is thinking at all." - Edward Abbey |
CVS Ceased To Sell Cigarettes Because Of Intimidation Or Cronyism, Not Public Health. By Theodore J. King. President Obama and many in the press made it appear that CVS was being altruistic, forsaking between 1.5 and 2 billion dollars in annual revenue from the sale of tobacco products. The reality is this was a business decision by CVS in order to cash in on the Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare), which allows insurance companies to charge up to 50 percent more in premiums for smokers and get favorable publicity from much of the media already hostile to tobacco. CVS is more than within its right to sell or not sell a legal product but they should be honest about it.
Junk Science: Leaping From Mouse to Man, Researchers Warn That E-Cigarettes Could Make You Snort Cocaine. By Jacob Sullum. Here is a warning you will never see on a pack of cigarettes: "The Surgeon General Has Determined That Cigarette Smoking May Enhance Your Enjoyment of Cocaine." "This study tells us little about human biology and nothing at all about real-world human behavior," says Phillips. "It does not even measure mouse behavior. The study provides no evidence there is a gateway effect, and there is no reason to believe there is one." CASAA President Julie Woessner calls it "a classic case of someone with a political agenda tacking their opinions onto technical research and trying trick the press into reporting it that way." Fortunately for the Kandels, the press is easy to trick.
Propaganda - WHO Would Have Expected This? The very same day that the World Health Organization launched its latest attack on electronic cigarettes one of the UK's best-selling newspapers ran an article making exactly the same claims. If you were really suspicious you might suspect a major international PR agency was somehow involved. Of course that can't be true. Then again, Rachael Lloyd isn't just a random person with a story to tell. She works for BLJ London, an "international strategic advisory consultancy" that specialises in "policy, legislative and market access campaigns". The WHO's jihad against e-cigarettes is focused firmly on changing policy, encouraging legislation and denying market access - just the sort of campaign BLJ discreetly carries out for its high-profile clients. And yes, "discreetly" is their description, not mine.
Reputation Launderers: The London PR firms with their own image problems. London's public relations industry has got a PR problem. Top firms such as Bell Pottinger, Brown Lloyd James, Portland and Grayling are coming under intense scrutiny because of their work for foreign governments or in regimes of dubious repute. The Public Health Mask Slips. By Dick Puddlecote. During the conversation I expressed my view that the public health movement had morphed from a position of benevolent concern for the public into one where coercion and bullying appeared to be central tactics; that in the past, public health had offered advice and support for those who wished to change their lifestyles, but generally left alone those who were content with taking ubiquitously-known risks. The occasion sticks in my mind because - to my surprise - the guy nodded and seemed to agree with me! Also: E-Cigarette users and public health experts are starkly divided. Public health chiefs have accused e-cigarette users of a campaign of online abuse, saying that junior scientists are being scared away from research by explicit attacks from "vapers" on Twitter. Indoor Air Quality Standard Modified. ASHRAE has proposed an alternate compliance path for existing buildings in its indoor air quality standard, in a move that recognizes that the ventilation rate procedure may be difficult to apply in these facilities. Also open for public comment is proposed addendum c, which would revise the current definition of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) to include emissions from electronic smoking devices and from smoking of cannabis, now allowed by some jurisdictions. The Food Insecurity Hoax. Promoting hunger scam is how federal bean counters keep their jobs. According to the U.S. Agriculture Department, American households suffer far more "food insecurity" than do families in Angola, Mozambique and Pakistan. The USDA uses different standards to gauge domestic and foreign "food security," but neither measure make senses. Still, that technicality will do nothing to deter politicians and pundits from demagoging the hunger issue. Food Good For You. (Comedy) REGULARLY eating food protects against death, it has emerged. Professor Brubaker believes there is a clear link between eating food and not dying. "Eventually you will die, but that is inevitable." |
 The Research of David W. Kuneman |
Thursday, September 04, 2014
|
September 5, 2014 - Issue #770 "When an opponent declares, "I will not come over to your side," I calmly say, Your child belongs to us already... What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing else but this new community." - Adolph Hitler |
 Cut off one limb, another appears... Clive Bates has recently given his response to the WHO's disproportionate recommendations on e-cigarettes, which you can read here. What is The World Health Organization? The organization faces criticism for its growing dependence on the pharmaceutical industry. The "People's Health Movement," a network of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) focused on health policy from more than 70 countries, has criticized the pharmaceutical industry's growing influence on WHO as well as the organization's increasing reliance on private donors. What is The United Nations? Read the full text of "The fearful master; a second look at the United Nations" and Watch the video: G. Edward Griffin On The United Nations. In reality, the United Nations is the seat of what the member governments hope will become a true world government. "U.N. Me" Documentary Exposes the United Nations. Most people are familiar with the U.N.'s notorious ineffectiveness, but viewers of the documentary U.N. Me will reach an inevitable conclusion: It's even worse than we thought. NE: Smoking in cigar bars, tobacco outlets ruled unconstitutional. In its decision, the court upheld the overall ban. "Allowing patrons of such shops to smoke simply because it is convenient does not comport with the purpose of the Act, which is to protect the public and employees from the dangers of second-hand smoke," Stephan wrote. TN: Involuntary blood test. Under "no refusal" enforcement, suspected drunk drivers will be forced to submit to a breathalyzer or blood test, even if they refuse. Forced blood extractions take place off-site at a police precinct, making the process time consuming for individuals who might be innocent. Additionally, for those who refuse to comply, extraction locations are equipped with tools to strap down suspects and masks to cover their faces. WV: Gaming down at Berkeley County bars since smoking ban went into effect. The amount of cash put into limited video lottery game machines at more than 80 of these alcohol-serving establishments also dropped by about $1 million from June to July. Three clubs have indicated they might very well close in the coming days given the effect of the smoking ban on their business. Australia: Smoking cops will get power to enter Victorian schools. Parents and older siblings who picked up students from school knew that smoking would no longer be tolerated at the school gates. Council inspectors will be allowed in to investigate possible breaches and ensure the rules are being complied with. Australia: Has the nanny state gone too far? NOTHING stirs up the emotions quite as much as the debate around the so-called nanny state. Plain packaging, 1:30am lockouts, bicycle helmet laws - public health advocates say it's all for the greater good, but libertarians say they erode personal responsibility and impose burdensome red tape. The issue of the nanny state raised its head again this week with the second of four planned hikes to the tobacco excise, expected to discourage people from smoking. Cigarette prices are set to rise by $1.41 for a pack of 25. Canada: Capital Health's smoke-free policy expands to homes. New policy, effective Oct. 20, covers cigarettes and e-cigarettes. MacIntosh says many patients who smoke already avoid lighting up when their caregiver visits. |
 |
