Clearing The Air

The Surgeon General's office steps in to help the failing tobacco control movement.....

The Surgeon General's office must have taken notice of the recent outrageous lies by the tobacco control activists like "..30 minute exposure to secondhand smoke can lead to a serious heart attack..." so much so that they felt the need to issue a report of their own, found here.

But the absurdity of the weak argument ".....there is no safe level...." has been thoroughly debunked. It 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 4% concentration). There is no way to completely eliminate harmful substances from existence, once you recognize that, it simply becomes a matter of recognizing a safe acceptable level.

Furthermore, the American Cancer Society air quality testing of secondhand smoke proved levels are up to 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA regulations for secondhand smoke.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2004/04/american-cancer-society-test-results.html

In addition Ventilation not Legislation has been proven by a local health department to be a safe alternative to the anti-business practice of smoking bans.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2005/12/ventilation-not-legislation.html

The surgeon has been called in to help prop up a dying argument.......but I think your time would be better spent on serious issues....don't you doc?

One final note: It's not completely clear to me what role the CDC plays in relationship to the Surgeon General's office, but the fact that the CDC accepted money from the Nicoderm manufacturer Johnson & Johnson Company......completely destroys any credibility that organization may have once had regarding tobacco issues.

http://www.cdc.gov/Tobacco/issue.htm

RWJF grant to the National Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

http://www.rwjf.org/reports/grr/041244.htm

Johnson & Johnson financial contribution to the National Foundation for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

http://www.rwjf.org/reports/grr/041244.htm

posted by marcus aurelius @ 7:18 AM