Clearing The Air

Monday, July 31, 2006

I hope it wasn't something I said......

I did call the Surgeon General a "liar", and a "little Napoleon" and then I backed up that claim with test results from the American Cancer Society; which proved secondhand smoke is up to 25,000 times safer than OSHA regulations. But I had no idea he would take the news so hard..........he just tendered his resignation.

I almost feel bad, I know what it feels like to be unemployed......except that mine came at the hands of the pro-smoking ban activists, who felt the need to deceive lawmakers about the facts regarding secondhand smoke......and my job loss came with no unemployment benefits or severance package.

So while I'm packing all my belongings as the sheriff evicts us from our home, I'll briefly reflect on the former Surgeon General Carmona and quietly whisper a little prayer that starts something like this............................paybacks are a bitch.

Update: Check out what Carmona had to say about his leaving office:

So did you get pushed out because of the second-hand smoke issue?

There were a number of those editorials. To be honest with you, if I was, I would never know. If someone [in the administration] would have made a compelling case to stay, I would have thought about it. I had nobody tell me: you're out of here because you wrote that report. All I heard were complaints that some people in the administration were not happy.

And for the full story:

http://www.forbes.com/business/

The man was pushed. As we suspected.

-thanks to Colin Grainger for the update.

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Lawmakers looking for a common sense statewide smoking ban that works, should look to South Dakota.....

South Dakota's ban is perfect in that it gives the activists what they want -a smoking ban. But it's a ban that doesn't force businesses to go bankrupt as typically happens with a strict no smoking law. Because it allows an exemption that gives business owners a choice on the type of clientele they wish to serve......while also giving the customer the choice of what type of establishment they want to frequent....smoking or non-smoking....That's a decision we can all live with, especially now that we all know about the American Cancer Society testing which proves secondhand smoke is up to 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA regulations.

A couple years ago the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded American Lung Association, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, and the rest of the Nicoderm marketing department attempted to get local South Dakota cities and counties to pass smoking bans. So the legislature of South Dakota stepped up and said to the pharmaceutical company pawns, "Ok, so you want a statewide smoking ban, we'll give you a smoking ban.......First off, no local government may enact a law which supersedes our statewide smoking ban; second, smoking is banned in all public and quasi public places, with the following exemption........ those establishments with a liquor license are exempt....."

Guess what, those Nicoderm funded charlatans like the RWJF, ALA, ACS, AHA, AMA, ANSR etc. haven't been back since........I wonder if other state lawmakers also have the backbone to stand up against the pharmaceutical nicotine special interest organizations?

God bless the South........Dakota, that is.

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Smoking bans....The Right Thing To Do?....Or an insidious pestilence in our midst?

Minnesota Representative Doug Meslow recently wrote an editorial in the Pioneer Press attempting to defend anti-business smoking bans by stating:

"...the majority of us have concluded that removing dangerous airborne toxins from public gathering spots is the right thing to do...."

Actually a bar or restaurant is a private business (gathering spot), and the "right thing to do" is what public officials do regarding welding smoke in the workplace at factories -allow OSHA regulations to dictate health and safety standards. Why would you treat tobacco smoke differently than welding smoke? Unless you have a special agenda, and if your funding for that special agenda comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation , an off shoot of the Johnson & Johnson Company which manufactures Nicoderm & Nicoderm CQ.

Welding smoke is far, far, more hazardous, concentrated, and dangerous, it contains airborne heavy metals which are known class A carcinogens. Yet, if a factory keeps the exposure levels below OSHA regulations, typically by using filtration methods, then the employees are safe.

Further to note, OSHA also has regulations for each and every airborne component of secondhand smoke and the published testing by the American Cancer Society proves secondhand smoke is up to 25,000 times safer than OSHA regulations.

So it would seem that the "right thing to do" (in the mind of Meslow and other activists) is not as dependent upon whether secondhand smoke is truthfully harmful......as much as the fact that "the majority of us have concluded" we want everyone to be forced to conform to our demands. Meanwhile the funding for lobbying efforts comes from the pharmaceutical nicotine industry.....like the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and by extension the Johnson & Johnson Company (manufacturer of Nicoderm), thus demonstrating that smoking bans and all their participants are a particularly insidious pestilence in our midst.

(Ventilation equipment is allowed in the industrial workplace to improve air quality, why not in the commercial workplace?)

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Are smoking bans constructive or destructive to the community?.....let's review the facts.

1) Implementing a smoking ban is the most anti-business stance a local government can make.

In the Twin Cities of Minneapolis & St. Paul, MN. after barely 15 months of smoking bans 78 hospitality businesses closed, and with an average of 30 employees; that's nearly 2,400 lost jobs. Yet during the same period in 2004, before metro wide smoking bans existed (according to a Minneapolis Star Tribune article) only 15 hospitality businesses closed.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2005/11/updated-hennepin-ramsey-hospitality.html

To disguise the fact that smoking bans destroy businesses and jobs, many local governments and those who support smoking bans put together "economic studies", designed to deceive lawmakers and the public, into believing that there has been no financial harm since the implementation of smoking bans. However, those studies are always fraught with omissions and statistical errors to minimize the truth. In Minneapolis for instance the city's study claimed that there had been a modest increase in business since the smoking ban. Until one digs a little further into the truth to find that the study accounted for only 353 of the 618 establishments affected by the smoking bans. And worse yet the majority of the revenue accounted for was from hotels. Hotels are unaffected by smoking bans...... did you know to this day you can still go to nearly every hotel in California and book a room which allows smoking?

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/03/minneapolis-revenue-numbers-for-bars.html

The lobbyists and local governments know that the "risk" of secondhand smoke is too trivial and insignificant to push hotels into compliance, they know the unions would challenge smoking ban laws.....and easily win.

I say too trivial because the American Cancer Society proved secondhand smoke is up to 25,000 times safer than OSHA regulations for secondhand smoke.

2) Numerous organizations have conducted scientific air quality testing of secondhand smoke and determined that the "purported health risks" of secondhand smoke are so insignificant as to be laughable.

The American Cancer Society conducted air quality testing and the results show secondhand smoke is 532 - 25,000 times safer than OSHA regulations for secondhand smoke. What makes the ACS results so laughable is that the results had to be measured in nanograms, that's 10 (-9) or 0.000000001.

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

The California EPA Air Resources Board AQ testing of secondhand smoke outdoors, being used to justify outdoor smoking bans, returned test results which were 50,000 times safer than OSHA regulations for secondhand smoke components.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2005/10/secondhand-smoke-air-quality-study-by.html

The Environmental Health Department of St. Louis Park, MN. also recently conducted the same AQ testing and found SHS so much safer than OSHA regulations that the argument "....protecting the health of employees....." holds no valid claim.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/02/air-quality-testing-and-secondhand.html

3) Once you realize the organizational ties to special interest groups which fund smoking ban legislative efforts, you begin to see why the "tobacco control" groups will resort to lies, omissions, and deceipt in order to attain their goals.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/01/will-there-be-investigation-into-this.html

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funds most of the groups which lobby for smoking ban legislation. The American Lung Association, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, the American Medical Association, American Non-Smoker's Rights, the Center for Tobacco Free Kids (of which Action on Smoking and Health, ASH is a member) etc. etc. all have received funding from RWJF which benefits financially when smoking bans are passed; making them highly suspect to say the least.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2005/07/why-is-pharmaceutical-company-funding.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/04/financial-ties-between-anti-smoking.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2005/09/for-those-still-naive-enough-to-think.html

Meanwhile RWJF owns $5.4 billion worth of stock in the Johnson & Johnson Company, the manufacturer of Nicoderm & Nicoderm CQ (thru its subsidiary ALZA). (if you're asking yourself why a pharmaceutical nicotine manufacturer would want to ban tobacco nicotine use, you're apparently too naive to understand; but the marketing department at J & J understands)

4) The best way to combat these special interest groups and send them packing for good, is to have state legislators pass pre-emption laws, which essentially say....we the state already have clean air quality laws in place to protect workers, patrons, citizens, and backed by OSHA regulations are confident in these measures. Therefore in as much as smoking ban laws are financially devastating to local businesses and jobs; no local entity may pass laws which are more restrictive than current state air quality laws.....which includes smoking bans.

It is time to bring common sense and facts back into the smoking ban debate, once that happens; smoking bans and the special interest groups which fund them will become a thing of the past.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

This argument against smoking bans, by the Minnesota legislative member who authored the smoking ban, is worthy of an update.

Proof that lawmakers don't even believe the absurd health "hazard" claims the anti-smoking activists are espousing.

At this video link you will find the MN. House smoking ban author Representative Doug Meslow, killing the legislation all by himself.

Rep. Meslow and pro-smoking ban lawmakers around the country claim they are enacting smoking ban legislation for the health of employees. However, at the video link above at time counter interval 6:11 - 8:38 you will see and hear representative Meslow offering amendment A17 to his smoking ban bill H405, which will:

"...permit smoking in retail tobacco stores......"

Meslow goes on to justify this exemption by tripping all over his tongue with the ease and grace that only a politician can muster:

"......this bill is really about protection.....looking out for the health of employees and their exposure to secondhand smoke.....(however) individuals working in retail tobacco are people who are involved in that kind of business and process........these are people who are commonly already smoking on their own.....they don't have the same protection concerns....I don't have the same protection concerns for them......."

The above dialogue verbatim describes why bars and restaurants also need to be exempt from these abusive, unnecessary, draconian smoking ban measures. Bar and restaurant employees are also "...involved in that kind of business and process..." these individuals voluntarily chose the atmosphere they decided to work in......And furthermore, 80% + of hospitality workers "...are people who are commonly already smoking on their own...."

As far as I'm concerned the only thing better than having the American Cancer Society prove secondhand smoke concentrations are up to 25,000 times safer than OHSA guidelines, is having a pro-smoking ban politician exemplify the very reason why we don't need their unnecessary legislation.

I never imagined I'd be thanking Rep. Meslow for his service in the MN. House....thanks Doug, now how about a pre-emption bill to nullify these local government smoking ban ordinances which you've illustrated are so unnecessary.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

It's time to defeat the pro-smoking ban agenda......

You may have noticed I haven't been writing many new posts here lately. I have instead been emailing lawmakers around the country the air quality facts which contradict the pro-smoking ban activists' lies.

Pick 10 - 20 lawmakers around the country and email a different group every day. city councils, county commissions, and state lawmakers. 100 of us emailing 20 per day means we reach 2000 lawmakers per day or 60,000 per month. We can inform lawmakers about the facts they don't otherwise receive from the pro-smoking ban activists.

Let's get to it, we've the entire mainstream media to overcome.....and though we don't have the big pharmaceutical funding....we have the drive and determination.

Some ideas to email or mail to lawmakers:
http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/06/case-against-smoking-ban-laws.html

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

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/07/american-cancer-society-catches.html

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

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/01/will-there-be-investigation-into-this.html

Obviously there are other sources of facts, choose those that you are most comfortable with and start emailing.

Another idea, check announcements of tobacco control activists here:
http://www.smokersclubinc.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=2145
to see who the anti's are lying to and provide those lawmakers with the facts.

For email addresses of lawmakers nationwide, here is a great resource:
http://capwiz.com/acs-national/home/

Sample email of what I send to lawmakers:

Dear lawmaker,

There are numerous special interests willing to exaggerate the facts, to get you to pass needless laws.

Here is what you should know before considering a ban on smoking in private bars and restaurants:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/06/case-against-smoking-ban-laws.html

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

Thank you for taking the time to read over the facts. The livelihood of tens of thousands of people depend upon you making the right choice.

Signed ________________________

Sunday, July 16, 2006

Lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson Company indicate that JNJ may be hazardous to your health and your portfolio

The following are links to lawsuits against the Johnson & Johnson Company. Each suit alleges wrongdoing, physical harm, or death caused by using products manufactured by Johnson and Johnson Company.

500 women harmed by birth control patch file suit against Johnson & Johnson
http://www.topix.net/content/cbs/1182267698092296816210726709950063548453

http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/news.html?d=102087

http://www.the-injury-lawyer-directory.com/2006/07/johnson-johnson-patch-kills-woman.html

http://rarediseases.about.com/b/a/136003.htm

http://www.classactionamerica.com/affiliates/gm/class-action-law-suit.asp?lngCaseID=4369

http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?id=15768

http://www.thestreet.com/stocks/healthcare/10289585.html

http://tinyurl.com/jvse9

http://tinyurl.com/h9dn7

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=105&STORY=/www/story/08-26-2002/0001789643

http://www.lawcash.com/attorney/1779/johnson-johnson-lawsuit.asp

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/11-10-2003/0002054256&EDATE=

http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/news_releases.mhtml?d=60860

http://www.bevnet.com/news/2005/01-31-2005-five_lawsuits_splenda.asp

http://www.vaccinationnews.com/dailynews/July2002/DrugFactory19.htm

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/24-04212004-286581.html

http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/story.html?articleID=310

http://openpr.com/news/11039/Johnson-Johnson-Sued-Over-Ortho-Evra-Damage.html

More lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson Company will be linked to this site as they become available. (lawfirms with current actions pending against JNJ may email Clearing the Air above at view my complete profile)

Columnist Craig Westover has a little fun with the "no safe level" argument

It's obvious that Johnson & Johnson (manufacturer of Nicoderm) and their sister organization RWJF, are responsible for funding "no safe level" smoking ban laws. But who will step forward to fund the "no safe level" of ultraviolet sunhine bans?

Read Westover's post here, and decide for yourself if it's an idea any more absurd than smoking bans.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

A call to action.....against the Johnson & Johnson Company

If you are a hospitality business owner, vendor, employee, smoker, or simply a citizen who values civil liberties and private property rights, I have a suggestion on how you can make a difference regarding smoking bans. You may want to seriously consider liquidating your holdings in the Johnson & Johnson Company.

Johnson & Johnson is the manufacturer of Nicoderm & Nicoderm CQ, the company also founded and has considerable influence on the board of directors at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It is this surrogate organization -RWJF (single largest shareholder of J & J) which provides the funding to numerous organizations worldwide to push for smoking ban legislation.

http://www.publicintegrity.org/rx/report.aspx?aid=721

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/01/will-there-be-investigation-into-this.html

Their actions (smoking bans) destroy many businesses and put tens of thousands out of work:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2005/11/updated-hennepin-ramsey-hospitality.html

http://www.smokersclubinc.com/banloss3.htm

The simple fact is that a pharmeceutical nicotine company J & J/ RWJF is destroying an entire industry in order to get laws passed which benefit their product sales and bottom line.......it's now time to use the very same tactics against them.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2005/07/why-is-pharmaceutical-company-funding.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/07/johnson-johnsons-interest-in-acquiring.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2005/10/here-is-article-that-started.html

Wanted: principled, steadfast, unwavering lawmakers who still remember that small business and jobs are the backbone of America

"Popular sentiment makes supporting (smoking) bans a risk-free no-brainer for opportunistic politicians..."

I borrowed that line from columnist Craig Westover's post today, because it exemplifies the spineless nature of today's politicians. They may campaign on priniciples, but once in office they check which way the wind blows and vote accordingly.... MN. Governor Pawlenty (taxes / fees debacle), MN. Rep. Meslow, etc. it makes no difference these are the "opportunistic politicians".

Gone apparently are the days of standing up for principles....like the fabled GOP principle of standing for limited, less intrusive government.....and supporting small business. The few GOP lawmakers which voted for a ban of civil liberties, and the manner in which a small business may decide to operate, otherwise known as smoking bans; sit idly by watching as nearly 100 twin cities businesses within a year, go bankrupt. Because its more palatable to be popular than principled. An indicator of that is this quote by Westover:

".....the Republican Party platform: Republicans stand for "Opposing any state or local adoption of a smoking ban on privately owned restaurants and bars."

That phrase is found in the 2004 party platform. The "tradition" of opposing smoking bans conveniently disappeared from the 2006 Republican Party platform...."

Westover concludes:

"There is no consolation but much amusement, however, in how quickly Meslow and Severson deny their political heritage, adopt the inevitable and try to make it look like a plan.

A running joke during the Cold War was that the statues of Russian leaders in Kremlin were on wheels, making it easier to roll them out of public view when a history rewrite was necessary. Reps. Meslow and Severson are doing a little of that wheeling and dealing on traditional Republican opposition to smoking bans in privately owned restaurants and bars."

And indeed Meslow seems to crow in his editorial letter to the Pioneer Press.......he's a spineless GOP politician and proud of it.......Doug if you do run for re-election again might I suggest Anyway the Wind Blows by Queen as your campaign ditty.

I would be remiss if I didn't close this post with the fact that the American Cancer Society test results prove secondhand smoke is up to 25,000 times safer than OSHA regulations. And the "right thing" to do is what public officials do regarding welding smoke in the workplace at factories -allow OSHA regulations to dictate health and safety standards. Why would you treat tobacco smoke differently than welding smoke? Unless you have a special agenda, and if your funding for that special agenda comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation , an off shoot of the Johnson & Johnson Company which manufactures Nicoderm & Nicoderm CQ. Welding smoke is far, far, more hazardous, concentrated, and dangerous, it contains airborne heavy metals which are known class A carcinogens.

Further, OSHA has regulations for each and every airborne component of secondhand smoke.

So here's hoping that the principled, steadfast, and spine intact State lawmakers, GOP and otherwise, put together a state law to pre-empt and nullify these local smoking bans.....yet leaving in tact a business owners right to choose his / her smoking preference clientele.

Monday, July 10, 2006

Pro-smoking ban activists continue spouting their lies because they know the mainstream media would never call them on the facts....

Pro-smoking ban state representative Doug Meslow of MN. recently wrote an editorial piece published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press in which he states:

Columnist Craig Westover recently characterized opposition to secondhand smoke protections in the category of a "traditional Republican position." Oh really?........Surveys consistently show that an overwhelming majority of Minnesota Republicans support laws to make bars and restaurants smoke-free.

Apparently Mr. Meslow doesn't read his party platform regularly:

Minnesota G.O.P. 2004 party platform states:

The Republican Party believes that proper stewardship of our natural resources and agricultural lands will best be achieved through sound science and adherence to Constitutionally guaranteed property rights. Therefore, we support:

S. Opposing any state or local adoption of a smoking ban on privately owned restaurants and bars. (found at bottom of page 7) (link)

Meslow continues:
"...the majority of us have concluded that removing dangerous airborne toxins from public gathering spots is the right thing to do...."

Actually a bar or restaurant is a private business, and the "right thing" to do is what public officials do regarding welding smoke in the workplace at factories -allow OSHA regulations to dictate health and safety standards. Why would you treat tobacco smoke differently than welding smoke? Unless you have a special agenda, and if your funding for that special agenda comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation , an off shoot of the Johnson & Johnson Company which manufactures Nicoderm & Nicoderm CQ. Welding smoke is far, far, more hazardous, concentrated, and dangerous, it contains airborne heavy metals which are known class A carcinogens. Further, OSHA has regulations for each and every airborne component of secondhand smoke and the published testing by the American Cancer Society proves secondhand smoke is up to 25,000 times safer than OSHA regulations.

And indeed I answered Meslow's lies in a rebuttal piece to the Pioneer Press above, yet I can all but guarantee it won't see any coverage in the media. The fact is if the media and activists were confident about their side of the issue they would allow a dissenting opinion.......absent that confidence they adhere to the mantra if you repeat a lie enough times it becomes reality.

How do you know when it's time to dump your Johnson and Johnson holdings?

This might be an indicator, of things to come.

JOHNSON & Johnson must pay US$772,500 to the family of a Texas woman who died after a patch designed to release pain-killing drugs leaked, a jury ruled in the first trial over the product, Bloomberg News reported.

"Usually, where there is smoke there is fire," Cranna said. Lawyers for Thompson's family said before the trial that only 100 suits had been filed so far over the Duragesic patch, which generated worldwide sales of about US$1.6 billion last year.

"Over 80 million Duragesic patches are sold each year in the US," Alex MacDonald, a Boston-based lawyer representing families of former patch users, said by phone. "The number of fatalities from those sales hasn't been determined."

The FDA hasn't said when it will conclude its probe and hasn't ordered J&J or Mylan to take the patches off the market.

Full story here.

Friday, July 07, 2006

American Cancer Society catches the Surgeon General in an outright lie...

The Surgeon General showed up very regal looking to provide a press release rehashing the tired old argument that secondhand smoke is deadly and must be banned. And with his next statement:

Separate "no smoking" sections DO NOT protect you from secondhand smoke. Neither does filtering the air or opening a window.

It seemed a feeble attempt to pre-empt any action short of a total smoking ban.....as if to confirm that pro-smoking ban activists' credibility in the public is failing miserably.

Well I am sorry to report that the American Cancer Society conducted air quality testing at several smoking venues which prove the Sugeon General flat out wrong.

Take a look at the above table, do you see the 20 reading? It represents a restaurant with an enclosed (separate) smoking area. And the 20 is actually 20 nanograms, a nanogram is 10 (-9).

So......let me put a number to that nanogram for you: 0.000000020 of a gram/cubic meter was the secondhand smoke concentration for the restaurant with the enclosed smoking area. Which is 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA regulations for the secondhand smoke measured airborne component. Thus the American Cancer Society destroys the Surgeon General's and RWJF (Nicoderm) funded James Repace argument that separation and ventilation don't work.

The Surgeon General can stomp his feet, and scream at the top of his lungs...like a little Napoleon "....because I said so....." all he wants. But it doesn't change the facts........and the facts show he is telling a bold faced lie to the American public.

UPDATE: The above post was later referenced in "The Free Republic" and "The United Pro Choice Smoker's Rights Newsletter" and "Forces" ......where you can find additional information.

http://www.cato.org/pubs/regulation/regv30n1/v30n1-5.pdf

Thursday, July 06, 2006

When do-gooders don't...

As I was travelling the other day I heard this radio commercial from the Ad Council which sums up the actions by the pro-smoking ban activists.

Some may think they're saving the world, but if they stop to see the businesses destroyed; and subsequently the tens of thousands unemployed. They've done nothing but add more misery, while increasing the profits for their paymaster.

Video commercial link.

And yet the fact remains, secondhand smoke is not a deadly health hazard requiring government intervention.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Johnson & Johnson's interest in acquiring Pfizer.....

......may have to do with Pfizer developing a new smoking cessation drug.

Since J & J has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into funding smoking ban legislation through their private foundation the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, it makes sense that they would want to acquire a competitive company which could have benefitted from RWJF's funding of smoking bans.

"there has been considerable buzz among smoking-cessation doctors about a new Pfizer Inc. drug called varenicline, which the company plans to market this month under the brand name Chantix...." full story here.

But the fact that J & J is acquiring Pfizer.....while their foundation RWJF continues to fund smoking ban legislation......only bolster's the argument that they continue to fund smoking ban efforts to increase their profits.....not to improve your health.

Especially now that we know secondhand smoke is NOT a hazard.

( I might suggest that the SEC take a good long look at this merger)

Oh.... sorry Robert Wood Johnson IV and William C. Weldon....am I interferring with your livelihood?......welcome to my world.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Happy 4th of July.....a PSA from Clearing the Air

In the interest of public safety I offer the following comment:

Please refrain from breathing anywhere near a charcoal grill, or campfire.....the hazardous by products are far more harmful to you than secondhand smoke from cigarettes-FACT. And since the Surgeon General has determined that secondhand smoke is deadly....it seems certain if you believe his rhetoric people will be dropping like flies around the campsites this 4th of July holiday.

I am sorry to be the one to provide you with this news, perhaps if the anti-tobacco activists had received their funding from the propane gas grill manufacturers, instead of the Nicoderm interests at Johnson & Johnson Company and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.....we would already have wood and charcoal fire government bans in place......I only hope for our childrens' sake it's not too late.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Lawmakers voting for the anti-business agenda of smoking bans are merely puppets to the pharmaceutical nicotine industry.......

...........And one former lawmaker hopes to expose them.

Jim Farrell, a former Minnesota state lawmaker and current head of the Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association (MLBA), is sending a message loud and clear to the citizens of Minnesota and its politicians........and "Clearing the Air" couldn't be more supportive.

Because as regular readers know, Clearing the Air has long been pointing out the innapropriate financial contributions from the Johnson & Johnson (manfacturer of Nicoderm) founded Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to the pro-smoking ban activists.

Whether it's the American Lung Association, American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association......who accepted $99,000,000.00 to become "activists" for RWJF. http://www.rwjf.org/research/researchdetail.jsp?id=2002&ia=143

Or the American Medical Association which accepted $88,000,000.00 from RWJF.
http://www.rwjf.org/reports/npreports/smokeless.htm

Or the $70,000,000.00 paid by RWJF to National Center for Tobacco Free Kids (NCTFK) of which Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) is a member.
http://www.rwjf.org/reports/grr/035929.htm

Even the Centers for Disese Control and Prevention (CDC) has been involved in the financial "take" from pharmaceutical nicotine giant Johnson & Johnson Company.....in order to promote the pharmaceutical nicotine agenda of demanding smoking bans.

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

http://www.rwjf.org/portfolios/resources/grantsreport.jsp?filename=041244.htm&iaid=141&gsa=1#int_grantinfo

Note (in the grant above) under the "Chairman's Circle" the $50,000.00 + donors to the CDC included the Nicoderm manufacturer itself Johnson & Johnson Company.

(if you're asking yourself why a pharmaceutical nicotine manufacturer would want to ban tobacco nicotine use, you're apparently too naive to understand; but the marketing department at J & J understands)

Manufacturer of Nicoderm & Nicoderm CQ is ALZA: (check the box, manufactured by ALZA, distributed by GSK)
http://www.alza.com/alza/tl_1991

ALZA is owned by Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical company:
http://www.alza.com/alza/tl_2001

RWJF owns 80 million plus shares of J & J:Check out RWJF financials here on page 8 of this pdf file

Additionally, aside from the highly inappropriate fact that a pharmaceutical company is attempting to buy government action, which puts tens of thousands of people out of work, and destroys businesses; the exaggerations of secondhand smoke being a health hazard are put to rest once and for all with this American Cancer Society data which proves indoor concentrations are up to 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA regulations for the components of secondhand smoke.

So welcome aboard MLBA better late than never.....feel free to rummage through the Clearing the Air archives to use any and all of the research data we've uncovered.

Also visit our sponsors at bottom of webpage

Boycott these special interests (J & J) who destroyed the hospitality industry & jobs

Why does UCSF researcher Stanton Glantz support smoking bans?

The beginning of a revolution

"Though we may not be able to protect your business property rights, we certainly support your Second Amendment Rights"