Clearing The Air

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Hey brother can you spare a link?

Much to the dismay of the pro-smoking ban organizations.....I often cite the SLP/OSHA air quality testing of secondhand smoke as scientific proof that it does not rise to the level of hazard as the lobbyists (ALA, ACS, AHA, RWJF) would like lawmakers to believe.

But yesterday the Agitator.com linked to the post and now I am pleased to report that hundreds more readers per day are learning about these facts, so that they can fight potential anti-property rights legislation in their community with the testing that our environmental health department has conducted.

Thank you Agitator.....you have truly lived up to your namesake.

Health impact "fee" judged unconstitutional........

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation which provides the lobbying funds for higher taxes on tobacco products, must be disappointed with this court ruling.

Can the State of Minnesota appeal this ruling?......it sounds doubtful.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation......the ends justifies the means

I had a conversation today with someone from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (no lie) who confided to me that even they did not believe secondhand smoke was harmful........however, if claiming that it was harmful led to smoking bans, the Foundation was satisfied that those bans would eventually lead to people quit smoking and start buying their parent company's, Johnson & Johnson, products like Nicoderm, Nicotrol, Nicorette, Commit, etc.....rent seeking legislation pure and simple.

Therefore the hospitality industry and you as a vendor, Marcus Aurelius, are the expendable pawns in our agenda. (paraphrased)

So in their mind the ends justifies the means............. I wonder if my creditors are ok with that explanation?

Update: As my home was foreclosed upon 5/5/06, redemption ended 11/5/06 due to being out of work.....the answer would be no; my creditors were not ok with that explanation. I feel confident however, that RWJF will not lose any sleep, in eliminating jobs and costing people their homes and life savings.....we are afterall the expendable pawns in the pharmaceutical nicotine (Nicoderm) marketing program (smoking bans).

Monday, December 19, 2005

Why do we fight...?

I'm sure Bob from the American Lung, as well as the other non-profits like American Cancer, American Heart Association and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation wonder why we continue to fight their attempts to socialize all of America.

For some it is ideological, but I don't have that luxury, it's a bit more rudimentary for me. If my life and livelihood continued on the same as before the smoking ban I may still ideologically be against the ban, but I probably wouldn't be fighting their efforts all around the country as I do now.

No, the reason I fervently lobby lawmakers with these new government facts is simple economics for me. In the past 5 years I've sold on average $400,000.00 / yr. worth of Smokeeter filtration equipment to bars & restaurants.....this year thanks to the lies of MPAAT, the ALA, ACS, AHA & their benefactor RWJF I am behind by $350,000.00 in equipment sales. That same 88% loss, also directly translates to my 88% loss in salary.

You might think that the above organizations which lobby for smoking bans are doing so because they care about peoples' health and welfare........but the fact is that their lack of concern for people who are displaced by their lobbying efforts goes a long way to showing you the mindset and the true nature of these organizations. Your health and welfare is the last thing on their collective mind.......rather the next $99 million grant from Robert Wood Johnson is their driving force.

Feel free to make up the difference in sales for me RWJF, and prove me wrong.........I've always said I am a capitalist.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Could medical treatment, such as hormone replacement therapy, be creating lung cancer in women?.......

This Medical Research news seems to suggest that is the case.

The research article states:

"More women are dying now from lung cancer than from breast cancer," said senior author Richard Pietras, Weinberg's research mentor at the University of California at Los Angeles. "We followed one of the clues as to why this is happening, namely that estrogen drives the growth of certain types of lung cancer in women.".....

......To see if they could block this growth, the team started with the enzyme aromatase. It presented a natural target because aromatase converts testosterone into estradiol, a potent form of estrogen also used in hormone replacement therapy.......

I am certain we won't being hearing these research facts repeated by the pro-smoking ban non-profits........they want you to believe that secondhand smoke is the cause of all ills in society.

Read the full article here.

Update: Another recent study shows significant link between menopause treatment and breast cancer. Story here.

How do we know secondhand smoke is not the hazard anti-smoking activists claim? The American Cancer Society proved secondhand smoke levels are up to 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA regulations for secondhand smoke.

Friday, December 16, 2005

Terrorists or anti-smoking zealots you decide......

It has come to my attention that Hennepin county commissioners, who sought to ease the plight of business owners and families losing jobs due to the smoking ban, are receiving death wishes of sorts.

As you may or may not know Hennepin county Minnesota commissioners voted 12/13/05 to relax the smoking ban ever so slightly to help business owners and employees......What do they get for their efforts? Pro-smoking ban zealots wishing them to get lung cancer. Terroristic and bullying tactics by the pro-smoking ban activists are nothing new, American Non-Smoker's Rights threatened my business months ago, these new tactics though go too far. Sue Jeffers & I have become accustomed to their threats.....but lawmakers shouldn't fear making an informed decision and voting on the facts.

The latest tactics by pro-smoking ban zealots is shameful and disgusting. By sending the pro-smoking ban terrorists packing with their lies and "studies" in tow.....state lawmakers can send a powerful message to future pro-ban activists.........thank you but we've seen your kind before, and we don't negotiate with terrorists of any type.

In the meantime threatened lawmakers should be comforted in the fact that local environmental health department testing and OSHA air quality standards prove lung cancer from secondhand smoke is not the hazard these thugs claim.

0.5 mg or 500 ug/cu.M. (OSHA safe level) divided by 3.3 ug/cu.M. (median reading Applebees) = measured airborne nicotine* levels are 152 times safer than OSHA regulations ie. In other words NO HEALTH HAZARD as per OSHA workplace indoor air quality standards.

It is therefore disingenuous to implement smoking bans based on the argument that secondhand smoke is a health hazard, that argument has been scientifically proven false.

Sue Jeffers never forgets.......

From the Grand Forks Hearld, many lost businesses ago, Mr. Moffitt gave the following quote. (So much for lost causes)

"I'm sorry that Jeffers continues to fixate on her lost cause, instead of looking at the business opportunities of serving the vast majority of nonsmoking adults who like cold beer and hot food without the blue haze. I plan on being among the first wave of former customers who come back to Stub & Herb's on April 1 - the day Minneapolis goes smoke-free. "

The internet age makes being a loose cannon communications director a challenging task....................wouldn't you agree Bob?

Thursday, December 15, 2005

This just in.....

.....I called one of my potential bar / restaurant customers in St. Paul, The Buttery, to see if they were ready to order Smokeeters, per an earlier conversation. They have decided to close up at the end of the month; rather than fight the smoking ban that Thune and his ilk are threatening the city of St. Paul with.

Congratulations St. Paul voters, you wanted anybody but Kelly.........you got it. However, with the anti-business leadership you've voted in, higher taxes will be required by St. Paul residents to make up for the lost business tax base.

I beg to differ.......

I am on a number of mailing lists on smoking ban actions occurring around the country. This one is based in Washington DC., and pointed me to this artcle.

We join our paid smoking ban proponent already in progress:

(Regarding DC city council's 12-1 vote favoring a smoking ban)
David Mariner, on the other hand, is pleased with the Council's step. Mariner has served as a paid consultant to the National Coalition on Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, Transgender Health in regard to tobacco issues

Mariner says he worries that prior to a second vote, the legislation may be changed to include exceptions for venues employing ventilators designed to clean the air. He says there is no evidence such machines could do the job sufficiently.

Oh contrare, my diverse, alternative, open-minded (I'm sure) adversary. Check out this government testing of ventilation systems vs secondhand smoke.

Do smokers cost the state money?

According to local pro-smoking ban media outlets, smokers cost the state healthcare system big money. But is that really the truth?.......Not according to these links here:

Excerpts from white paper published by taxpayer advocacy group:

Currently, smokers pay a 48 cent a pack tax plus a “distributor license fee” that is paid by wholesalers of tobacco products. Federal taxes on cigarettes amount to another 39 cents a pack. In addition, smokers are currently funding the tobacco settlements across the country, amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars. Update: In 2006 state of MN ordered an additional $.75 "fee" per pack of cigarettes, and in 2009 the federal government added an additional $.62 per pack. Bringing MN & federal tax paid by smokers to $2.24 / pack.

According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the societal costs of smoking amount to about 15-24 cents a pack in 1986 dollars, or 27-43 cents a pack in 2005 dollars. Those costs are obviously substantially less than the taxes charged by the state and federal governments and being paid for by smokers through the tobacco settlements—amounting to 64 cents a pack in 1998. This year alone the state is getting about $200 million in tobacco settlement dollars from smokers, adding up to $1.6 billion paid into state coffers since 1998. Tobacco products are also subject to the 6.5% sales tax.

“Smokers are getting reamed already,” said David Strom. “Blue Cross and the tobacco tax advocates are smoking something if they are trying to argue that smokers aren’t paying their way already. They are already paying about $1.60 a pack in direct and indirect taxes to the government per pack.”

“Compared to the high-end estimate of social costs per pack of cigarettes put out by the Journal of the American Medical Association of 43 cents a pack, smokers are subsidizing non-smokers to the tune of over a $1 a pack. Adding another 75 cents a pack is highway robbery!” said Strom.

Minnesota smokers now subsidize non-smokers healthcare to the tune of $1.81 per pack.

Governments therefore rely on smokers to subsidize its insatiable appetite for higher and higher taxes.....while anti-tobacco activists lie to all of us in claiming that smokers don't pay their fair share.

Update: New study confirms non-smokers, and those who live longer are a higher cost burden to society.

Update: 6/14/2012 CBO Report "Reducing Smoking Would Raise Medicare, Social Security Spending"

Also:
http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/02/new-study-logically-proves-non-smokers.html

Coming next to a home near you..........

As mentioned on Bob Davis this AM here is the RWJF grants to fund smoking bans in the home.

Effect of Restrictions on Smoking at Home
http://www.rwjf.org/research/researchdetail.jsp?id=1307&ia=143

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/321/7257/333 Footnote credit: Funding: Supported by grants from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to the National Bureau of Economic Research .............and the University of Illinois at Chicago

More examples of the kind of money RWJF spends to lobby for smoking bans. (hiring non-profits to lobby for smoking bans)

$99 million from RWJF to American Lung, American Cancer, American Heart Association.

$70 million from RWJF to NCTFK.

UPDATE: smoking bans in the home have indeed become fact in some places already.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Your opinion please......

I was recently having a discussion with a group who thought that the St. Louis Park / OSHA air quality data was too much information for lawmakers to digest........I disagreed.

Am I giving lawmakers too much credit? Do they not have the attention span to digest these results? (In other words does anybody not understand the test results below?)

Send me an email (from my profile link above) or leave a comment......

Since some people seem to have difficulty in seeing the importance of comparing the St. Louis Park Environmental Health Department secondhand smoke air quality test results to the OSHA guidelines, here it is side by side:

click to enlarge 1 milligram mg = 1,000 micrograms ug (full OSHA table can be found here)

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Vitamin D improves lung function.....

This study states:

....Their new analysis found those who had higher levels of vitamin D were able to inhale and exhale more air...........That link was seen in blacks and non-Hispanic whites and was stronger in people older than 60 and smokers........Other recent studies have suggested Vitamin D may help strengthen bones as well as prevent some cancers and multiple sclerosis.....

I can almost guarantee that the American Lung, American Cancer, and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will be denouncing this study......city councils across America will be mandating vitamin D consumption instead of smoking bans.....and that's not likely to help nicotine patch sales.

Extra, extra, extra.....

.......get the latest update on freedom right here.

Hennepin county Minnesota commissioners decided to amend their 9 month old smoking ban. The amendment allows some establishments to qualify for an exemption from the smoking ban, so that they can make big people decisions all by themselves. More here:

I happened to be sitting in my office when I heard the news.......with my calendar of the Gipper on the wall........how appropriate.

Monday, December 12, 2005

Mainstream local media has an agenda regarding smoking bans.........

........ so don't expect them to give you the truth.

For the economic impact of the smoking ban......we'll turn to King Banian economics professor, friend, cigar aficionado, and all around good free market conservative to explain what the pro-smoking ban zealots won't: Aggregate data bias.

Further to note the Pioneer Press used aggregate data which attempted to diminish the smoking ban effect. It should also be noted that the data was collected during summer season sales, when smokers dining and drinking at outdoor patios still added to the sales of business establishments ; obviously in winter as the patios are closed those sales continue to decline at a rapid pace.

The smoking ban zealots hand picked the data they wanted the media and local lawmakers to see......data which minimized the appearance (facts) of any financial harm.

One item of interest, note the liquor sales losses in Bloomington (table below) '04-05 versus '03-'04. A cumulative swing in liquor sales of -9.42%. This is the very same data Bloomington city council members looked at in September '05 in re-evaluating their smoking ban.....their final determination.....they would leave the smoking ban as is.

A nearly -10% swing in revenue for the city of Bloomington is apparently acceptable. If I were paying taxes in Bloomington I'd start a petition to impeach......no Bloomington taxpayer should stand for that kind of mismanagement. And the city I grew up in, Plymouth isn't much better.

Anti-business my dear liberal council members there is no other way to call it.

click to enlarge

Especially when the claims of "health hazard" are completely false.

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Life is like a box of chocolates........

You never know what local government "busy bodies" are going to ban next.

I know how to stop it though......these facts will set you free.

Saturday, December 10, 2005

It's ironic that you have to go to a former socialist nation to experience freedom.

A former socialist society celebrates freedom......while the freedom hating liberals in our country yearn for socialism.

An editorial board Robert Wood Johnson hasn't bought off yet........low on money RWJF?

The editorial board at The Washington Times is apparently against the DC smoking ban:

With at-large Republican Carol Schwartz the lone exception, 12 council members passed a smoking ban in nearly all public places.......Mrs. Schwartz voted against it and for that we commend her.

As for the mayor, his few public comments on the matter suggest that his head is certainly in the right place. "I really fear the economic detriment here to our city," Mr. Williams said Tuesday. He is correct to fear the detriment to his city, as we here in the Twin Cities have observed firsthand.

And for that reason, the mayor must follow Mrs. Schwartz's example by taking a stand for a free society.

I'm so disappointed in RWJF, they've been able to buy the support of nearly every media outlet, up to now.....I am beginning to detect a weakness in the fortress wall.

Perhaps this is the wrecking ball that will tear it all down.

Government agencies prove secondhand smoke is not a hazard

OSHA and the Environmental Health Department prove secondhand smoke is NOT the health hazard pro-smoking ban acitivists claim.

So why would any lawmaker believe the special interest (Nicoderm) funded non-profit health organizations?

Perhaps lawmakers who adamantly vote "with" the pro-smoking ban special interest groups, even after the SLP/OSHA air quality test results are made public, should have their campaign contributions closely scrutinized.

Friday, December 09, 2005

When the non-profits can't get voluntary compliance, they mislead lawmakers to get mandatory compliance.......until now.

Bob from the Lung said in a comment on another weblog:

"We all agree that primary smoking is a leading cause of preventable illness and death in this state, right? ...........We don't know (yet) how many Minnesotans have quit this year because of the bans (and "fee"), ....."

Which exposes the real agenda of the activists.....get smokers to quit smoking......a noble cause unto itself.....if and only if you get smokers to stop smoking voluntarily.

However, Bob and the non-profits are openly admitting they are unable to do that......so they demand government to do what they cannot.

In order to do that however, they have to exaggerate and lie about the "health hazards" of secondhand smoke.....the problem for them now is that new information threatens to stop the pro-smoking ban activists in their tracks, and perhaps reverse current smoking bans in place because the justification at the time "health hazard" is false.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2005/12/osha-and-environmental-health.html

Thursday, December 08, 2005

OSHA and the Environmental Health Department prove secondhand smoke is NOT a health hazard.

Since some people seem to have difficulty in seeing the importance of comparing the St. Louis Park Environmental Health Department secondhand smoke air quality test results to the OSHA guidelines, here it is side by side:

click to enlarge 1 milligram mg = 1,000 micrograms ug (full OSHA table can be found here)

click to enlarge (actual SLP results found here)

The upper table is the actual OSHA permissible exposure limit table for airborne contaminants ie. these levels are the safe exposure limits for humans. You'll note that the nicotine* safe level is 0.5 milligrams mg / cu. M (or 500 micrograms (ug) / cu. M).

The bottom table is the actual St. Louis Park Environmental Health Department test results for 19 establishments of measured airborne nicotine* levels during busy evenings. You can see the median establishment, Applebees, had a reading of 3.3 micrograms ug / cu. M.

500 ug (OSHA safe level) divided by 3.3 ug (median reading Applebees) = measured airborne nicotine* levels are 152 times safer than OSHA regulations ie. In other words NO HEALTH HAZARD as per OSHA workplace indoor air quality standards.

Secondhand smoke does not rise to the level of being a hazard, as proven scientifically. Therefore even though you may be offended by the smell of tobacco smoke; no government entity has the authority to ban secondhand smoke on the argument of public health hazard - that is a disingenous argument.

* (As per air quality researchers) Nicotine is the only unique or "trace" chemical in secondhand smoke. If you measured for formaldehyde, the carpet and other interior sources of formaldehyde would corrupt the test result, formaldehyde is formed naturally in our atmosphere due to photochemical oxidation. Benzene is given off from burning foods in the kitchen or diesel exhaust outdoors so again a false reading would be obtained. Therefore, nicotine is the ideal chemical to measure for to determine secondhand smoke concentrations in the air. And then our comparison to OSHA guidelines is the logical manner in which to determine if secondhand smoke levels pose a health hazard, as you can see, they do not. If you wanted you could measure every airborne chemical in secondhand smoke and then also compare them to OSHA guidelines for that specific chemical, the results would be the same.

Smoking cigarettes can be hazardous to the smoker, no argument there. However, secondhand smoke is not the hazard pro-smoking ban activists claim, perhaps because they rely on Nicoderm interests for further funding.

UPDATE: The St. Louis Park air quality testing is the first and only such testing on secondhand smoke conducted anywhere in the country. And because the results don't confirm what the pro-smoking ban activists claim, all the non-profit organizations want to see these test results disappear. And in fact on the week of 1/16/2006 the city of St. Louis Park, MN. removed the nicotine disclosure document from its website, probably at the request of the well funded pro-smoking ban activists. You can read more about the municipal air quality program here in a St. Paul Pioneer Press article dated September 4, 2004.

Brian Hoffman, one of the engineers who orchestrated the St. Louis Park test results, is trying to do damage control regarding the low secondhand smoke readings obtained. He submitted a letter explaining the city's test results, saying among other things:

There is no recognized safe level of exposure to all the substances of secondhand smoke.

That however, is a disingenuous statement, every harmful substance known to mankind has a safe level of exposure......it's called OSHA permissible exposure limits. And if you believed that false premise, no recognized safe level of exposure, we would have to ban drinking water due to the level of arsenic naturally present. We would have to ban the very air we breathe due to the CO2 levels present. (CO2 is fatal at a 20% concentration but with every breath we inhale a .038% concentration).

I expected a better argument than what was given, but the fact is.....that it is impossible to defend the indefensible. And the smoking ban proponents know that.

Did you notice the pro-smoking ban lies and rhetoric have become more vocal in the media lately? They are frantically trying to defend the indefensible. Perhaps another $100 million from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation would help.

What's wrong with RWJF funding smoking bans? RWJF, as part of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies, profits from sales of Nicoderm, Nicotrol, Nicorette, etc. allowing them to fund smoking bans is criminal and fraudulent.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

For the record....

.....I just received an email from the mayor of a Minnesota town, telling me the previous post was "baloney."

To that my response was:

What "baloney" are you referring to, the St. Louis Park environmental health department test results?.....if this is "baloney" please let me know so that I can inform SLP residents how their tax money was being wasted.....or are you referring to OSHA guidelines being "baloney?"

I am just curious, as an elected official, is that the same way you react when the American Lung brings in reams of their "baloney?"

Nice open minded leaders we have at the local level........No wonder ALA, ACS, MPAAT, etc. are able to steamroll their agendas for a smoking ban through.

Saturday, December 03, 2005

Ventilation not Legislation

On November 15, 2005 when the Hennepin County Minnesota commission decided to explore amending the smoking ban that has devastated so many establishments. Testimony was given by one individual who claimed to be a mechanical ventilation expert, hired incidentally by the smoking ban proponents. After his testimony claiming there was no way to ventilate secondhand smoke, Commissioner Penny Steele asked a great question:

"Isn't indoor charcoal and wood-fired grilling a popular trend in bars & restaurants these days?....and isn't inhaling those fumes indoors potentially deadly? " (note how similar charcoal, wood, and tobacco smoke are as far as hazards....in fact wood and charcoal contain far more hazardous chemicals)

Expert reply: "....um, yeah"

Commissioner Steele: "Well, why isn't anybody dying in the restaurants from the cooking smoke?"

Expert: "Because they have special ventilation....."

Steele: "Couldn't establishment owners use a similar type of ventilation to also render secondhand smoke harmless?"

Expert: "uh, well, I suppose they could......."

And thus the above exchange killed this "expert's" testimony, along with the rationale for smoking bans altogether.

I have engineered many Smokeeter ventilation systems to establishments over 15 years to solve secondhand smoke issues. And our primary design criteria is first to provide 10 - 15 air changes per hour of Smokeeter filtration. Which means the entire room is completely filtered every 4 - 6 minutes, and contrary to pro-smoking ban activists' claims is no where near tornado-like winds. Secondly, I insist on using electronic air filtration systems on tobacco smoke even though we also handle other types of filtration systems, because electronic air cleaner filtration removes the smallest possible airborne particles 0.01 microns.

And my selling point always was that our equipment will meet or exceed all OSHA air quality standards when the customer purchases a system designed for 10 -15 air changes per hour. This guarantee is backed by the factory warranty as well, but truth be told we in the field didn't always have access to testing equipment to back the claim on every job. That is the reason I bring up the St. Louis Park, MN. Environmental Health Department air quality test results for secondhand smoke. The city inadvertently proved our claims for us.

Consider:

The Smokeeter models Crystal-Aire & LS are installed above the ceiling, and direct smoke away from the non-smoking area. Keeping smokers and non-smokers safely accomodated.

T.G.I. Friday's in SLP has 2 Smokeeter Crystal Aire systems pictured above in place, and the test results measuring secondhand smoke levels, when smoking was allowed, exceeded OSHA air quality standards by a factor of 68........68 times safer than OSHA guidelines...... show me the public health problem there. Click here for data.

Applebee's in SLP has 2 Smokeeter LS systems pictured above in place, and the test results measuring secondhand smoke levels, when smoking was allowed, exceeded OSHA air quality standards by a factor of 152........152 times safer than OSHA guidelines...... show me the public health problem there. Click here for data.

Santorini's in SLP has 1 Smokeeter Crystal Aire systems pictured above in place, and the test results measuring secondhand smoke levels, when smoking was allowed, exceeded OSHA air quality standards by a factor of 174........174 times safer than OSHA guidelines...... show me the public health problem there. Click here for data.

So I again express my gratitude to the St. Louis Park Environmental Health Department, they have inadvertently provided testing that proves for our customers what we have always known to be true....you just can't buy advertising like that.

Update: The American Cancer Society air quality testing of secondhand smoke proves ETS is 532 - 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA regulations. And newly discovered is this British Medical Journal published AQ test result which shows that secondhand smoke is not the hazard that special interest groups claim.

If your establishment needs a clean air solution please contact us here, even if your place of business has been forced to go non-smoking remember, there is no such thing as too much clean air. Global Air Filtration Systems Inc.

When writing a ventilation amendment into law, these are the important points to include:

1) "ventilation/filtration option will segregate smoking area from non-smoking" (I have engineered many systems over the years which drive smoke away from non-smoking section/ walls are an even more effective means of separation but not the only means)

2) "this system needs to provide a minimum of 10 air changes per hour" (filtration of the interior room every 6 minutes at a minimum)

3) "the filtration system is to be independent of the existing HVAC" (typical HVAC merely recirculates up to 80% of interior air without filtration; an exception could be made for an HVAC system with a highly efficient electro-static precipitator (ESP) filtration system)

4) " ESP filtration is the most effective particulate removal system because it is very effective in removing particles as small as 0.01 microns"

(Ventilation equipment is allowed in the industrial workplace to remove welding smoke, why not in the hospitality workplace to remove tobacco smoke? The fact that Nicoderm, Nicorette, Nicotrol, money via RWJF is used to finance smoking ban lobbyists is the likely reason "why not"......it's all about making money not concern for health)

"MPAAT" & "Facts" are also two words you won't see in the same sentence

On another matter, when the pro-smoking ban activists' claims of "better health" after passage of smoking bans doesn't come to fruition......wouldn't you expect to see it in the media?

New York State’s smoking ban also applies to bars, clubs, and restaurants and also took effect July 2003. According to the HCUP database, New York hospitals admitted 31,728 (acute myocardial infarction) AMI patients during 2002, and 31,888 patients during 2003. Since the ban was only in effect for half of 2003, again, a 17% decline in ER admissions for AMI would have been expected which would have been a decrease of 5,394 admissions. Instead of a decrease of thousands though there was an actual increase of 160 admissions. These findings again are in direct conflict with the findings and the message of the researchers in the Helena study and Pueblo press release.

Apparently not, but you will see it here.

Hmm, perhaps there is another agenda, other than health, driving the phenomena of smoking bans.

Friday, December 02, 2005

Pawlenty is a sure thing as next Governor of North Dakota

Pawlenty has perhaps done more for North Dakota than he has for Minnesota.

I wonder if that will be the last time he listens to the Nicoderm marketing department, I am referring to American Lung, American Cancer, American Heart Association.

RWJF owns $5.4 billion in J & J (Nicoderm) stock, found on page 8 of this financial document.

MPAAT & Science are two words you'll never see in the same sentence together.....aside from here.

MPAAT was caught lying here, with this woman deceiving the public about having cancer to serve their agenda. MPAAT is lying when they claim, with authority, that 38,000 people die every year from secondhand smoke, not one single person has ever been documented as dying from secondhand smoke. But they continue to air their lies on radio & TV because of the tobacco settlement money......money that was supposed to be spent educating smokers to quit smoking voluntarily........not spent influencing or lobbying for government mandated smoking bans.

Here is an interesting factoid in this 2004 MPAAT document page 6 to the Minnesota legislature & Ramsey district court, it states as per the MN Department of Health:
One in every seven deaths in Minnesota (5,600 deaths a year) is attributable to smoking. Which slightly contradicts what the Cancer Society says.

The American Cancer Society states: In Minnesota, more than 2,620 people are diagnosed with lung cancer each year and 2,480 people die from it, the American Cancer Society said.

And yet now MPAAT is trying to tell us 38,000 non-smokers per year die of secondhand smoke......Apparently to exaggerate their point, now more non-smokers die of secondhand smoke than smokers die from smoking. Hmmm something tells me MPAAT & the pro-smoking ban activists will stop at nothing to pass their agenda.....lies and unethical behavior is acceptable.

Pro-smoking ban groups lied about the harm to businesses, currently there are 58 Hennepin & Ramsey establishments closed since the smoking ban took effect April 2005 this year. So, now that MPAAT has been exposed for their lies & deceitful practice I hope the lawyers who file lawsuits on behalf of small business owners & employees who've lost everything remember to include MPAAT as a responsible party.

Finally, I cannot mention MPAAT without touching on the latest tool being used, the Heather Crowe story. You've probably heard the ads a 60 year old waitress, who worked 40 years in a smoking restaurant most of the time by her own admission working 20 hour days. Heather is not a typical restaurant worker. Where is the concern for the factory welder who worked 30 years in a welding smoke atmosphere and dies of respiratory failure......some might say after 30 years surely he knew what he was exposing himself to, well the same can be said of Heather 40 years in a restaurant makes her story very atypical. Further, Heather states she is dying of lung cancer but, she is currently in remission, and may not die from her lung cancer at all, despite having allegedly been told that she had no more than a year to live. That was nearly 3 years ago when her story first broke.

And so that brings me back to the reason 38,000 people aren't dying of exposure to secondhand smoke. The science and air quality testing of secondhand smoke shows that it is not possible, in fact secondhand smoke levels in smoking bars & restaurants is 500 - 15 times safer than OSHA regulations. Meanwhile, the pro-smoking ban activists most funded by Nicoderm interests, or tobacco settlement money like MPAAT, who by their own charter have to spend that money "educating" the public, will stop at nothing, even gross exaggerations and outright lies, to force their agenda on everyone.

Since some people seem to have difficulty in seeing the importance of comparing the St. Louis Park Environmental Health Department secondhand smoke air quality test results to the OSHA guidelines, here it is side by side:

click to enlarge the table above (1 milligram mg = 1,000 micrograms ug)

click to enlarge

The upper table is the actual OSHA permissible exposure limit table for airborne contaminants ie. these levels are the safe exposure limits for humans. You'll note that the nicotine* safe level is 0.5 milligrams mg / cu. M (or 500 micrograms (ug) / cu. M).

The bottom table is the actual St. Louis Park test results for 19 establishments of measured airborne nicotine* levels during busy evenings. You can see the median establishment, Applebees, had a reading of 3.3 micrograms ug / cu. M.

500 ug (OSHA safe level) divided by 3.3 ug (median reading Applebees) = measured airborne nicotine* levels are 152 times safer than OSHA regulations ie. NO HEALTH HAZARD. It is therefore impossible to implement smoking bans based on the argument that secondhand smoke is a health hazard, that argument has been scientifically proven false.

* (As per air quality researchers) Nicotine is the only unique or "trace" chemical in secondhand smoke. If you measured for formaldehyde, the carpet and other interior sources of formaldehyde would corrupt the test result, formaldehyde is formed naturally in our atmosphere due to photochemical oxidation. Benzene is given off from burning foods in the kitchen or diesel exhaust outdoors so again a false reading would be obtained. Therefore, nicotine is the ideal chemical to measure for to determine secondhand smoke concentrations in the air. And then our comparison to OSHA guidelines is the logical manner in which to determine if secondhand smoke levels pose a health hazard, as you can see, they do not. If you wanted you could measure every airborne chemical in secondhand smoke and then also compare them to OSHA guidelines for that specific chemical, the results would be the same.

Smoking cigarettes can be hazardous to the smoker, no argument there. However, secondhand smoke is not hazardous to anyone, except of course to those who rely on Nicoderm interests for further funding, and those organizations, which by their charter, must spend the tobacco settlement money.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

John Stossel always brings common sense to the smoking ban debate.....

......here he tells us how to get smoking bans repealed.

I once interviewed the mayor of the tiny community of Friendship Heights, Md. He got his town to pass the most stringent anti-smoking law in America. It banned cigarette smoke outdoors.

"We're elected to promote the general welfare, and this is part of the general welfare," he told me. After I interviewed him, he was arrested for touching a 14-year-old boy's genitals in a bathroom at Washington National Cathedral. The village council finally repealed his law. Finally, we know what it takes to get an anti-smoking law repealed.

Beware activists and lawmakers who buy into the smoking ban activists' false claims.....we will be watching.