Clearing The Air

Monday, November 26, 2007

If anti-smoking groups were communicating their messages effectively they wouldn't need to spread lies about secondhand smoke to promote smoking bans

Dr. Siegel's latest online article almost gets the rest of the story right:

This column should summon the warning bell for all tobacco control groups. It should alert these groups that the anti-smoking crusade is pushing people too far and that if unrestrained, it will lead to the abuse of personal freedoms, rights, privacy, and autonomy.

If anti-smoking groups were communicating their messages effectively (or perhaps I should say: if anti-smoking groups were communicating the most appropriate messages), then I truly don't believe that a prominent newspaper like the Herald-Sun would be running a column like this without editing it for such offensive material.

The key phrase is:

If anti-smoking groups were communicating their messages effectively..........then (the rest of the story should read) there would be no need to promote the lies they espouse to promote smoking bans.

Lies because each and every smoking ban claims that secondhand smoke is a workplace health hazard. However, numerous pro-smoking ban groups conducted air quality testing in smoking allowed bars and restaurants and the test results have determined that secondhand smoke levels are 2.6 - 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA established workplace air quality regulations.

The St. Louis Park, MN. Environmental Health Department test results prove secondhand smoke levels are 15.4 - 500 times SAFER than OSHA air quality regulations.

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

The American Cancer Society test results prove secondhand smoke levels are 532 - 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA air quality regulations.

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

British Medical Journal published and peer reviewed test results prove secondhand smoke levels are 2.6 - 5,000 times SAFER than OSHA air quality regulations.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/04/bmj-published-air-quality-test-results.html

Johns Hopkins / American Cancer Society published and peer reviewed test results prove secondhand smoke levels are 29.6 - 238 times SAFER than OSHA air quality regulations.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/11/johns-hopkins-air-quality-testing-of.html

Look, I've said it numerous times before; getting smokers to quit voluntarily is a noble cause when it was conducted through voluntary education and marketing. Smoking bans on the other hand are coercive, collusive, and frankly bordering on racketeering in my opinion. No company or organization should be able to use the force of government (smoking bans) to sell their products. Yet time and time again, it seems clear that this is the modus operandi of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Johnson & Johnson Company.

So Dr. Siegel, if you're truly interested in reporting The Rest of the Story, it is that smoking bans are an unnecessary intrusion of personal freedoms, rights, privacy, and autonomy. Secondhand smoke IS NOT a workplace health hazard as per Occupational Safety & Health Administration regulations.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

How smoking bans set a dangerous precedent which will lead to greater decay of the U.S. economy

Even if you ignore the obvious data that shows smoking bans are eliminating hospitality establishments and jobs at an alarming rate. Smoking ban legislation and the behind the scenes lobbying activity and organizations involved have set the stage to continue destroying the U.S. economy on an endless host of issues, thanks to the mindless actions of spineless lawmakers all around the country.

Example: Perhaps one day in the not too distant future Chinese manufacturing lobbyists (activities convoluted thru non-profit health organizations like the American Lung Association etc.) inform local U.S. politicians that there is no safe level of exposure to airborne hexavalent chromium, nickel, beryllium, cadmium, etc. in the workplace. Therefore continuing current air quality testing procedures to determine compliance with OSHA permissible exposure limits is no longer allowed........because the only safe level of exposure to welding smoke components is NO exposure. Feel good liberal politicians will of course agree to this since the majority of U.S. citizens are not employed in the welding trades and certainly don't want to be exposed to the exaggerated claim that a welding facility across town causes 38,000 premature deaths of U.S. residents due to the no safe level of exposure to welding smoke argument promulgated by the non-profit health organizations, universities, the AMA, Surgeon General etc. (all of whom, conicidentally, accepted funding grants from the Chinese Manufacturing Association). So now the only solution is to ban all welding facilities in the U.S. and ship those manufacturing jobs to China. New York Times Headline: Another health crisis averted.....millions of lives saved!

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/04/equal-protection-of-law.html

A far fetched scenario you say......don't count on it....the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American Lung Association, American Cancer Society, American Non-smoker's Rights, etc . have already laid the groundwork to implement such policy changes; while complacent Americans only made the job easier for these rent seeking activists.....on this issue and the next.

Of course if we as Americans still believed we are the greatest nation on earth, and could solve any issue before us......this is manner in which we would resolve the secondhand smoke issue..... thru sound scientific measures and free market solutions:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/03/secondhand-smoke-should-be-regulated-by.html

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Johns Hopkins air quality testing of secondhand smoke proves yet again that levels are hundreds of times safer than OSHA regulations

Clearing the Air has informed readers of numerous air quality test results which proved that secondhand smoke is not an occupational hazard........yet uniformed lawmakers around the country continue to pass smoking bans based on the special interests' argument that secondhand smoke is a workplace health hazard. If they would simply consider the air quality test results in comparison to OSHA regulations there is only one conclusion an INFORMED lawmaker could come to......the special interest Nicoderm funded activists are pulling the wool over their eyes.

Now a recent series of air quality test results from Johns Hopkins proves once again the facts that have been confirmed in every other comprehensive secondhand smoke test result.

The study is supported by the American Cancer Society and the Flight Attendants Medical Research Institute.

The Johns Hopkins test results ranged from 2.1 to 16.9 micrograms (µg)/m3 (cubic meter) of airborne nicotine in smoking allowed establishments. However, what Johns Hopkins neglects to mention in the article is that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has a permissible exposure limit (pel) for airborne nicotine .....it is 0.5 milligrams (mg)/m3, which equals 500 micrograms (µg)/m3.

So the JH test results prove that secondhand smoke levels at bars and restaurants in Baltimore, MD are 29.6 (500 divided by 16.9) to 238 (500 divided by 2.1) times SAFER than OSHA regulations.

Over and over again the facts prove that pro-smoking ban activists are misleading lawmakers, the media and society into enacting unnecessary and arbitrary laws, which are eliminating thousands of businesses and tens of thousands of jobs.

Additionally, smoking bans have had a profound effect on the worldwide economy:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2009/03/worldwide-economic-meltdown-and.html

Sunday, November 04, 2007

Minnesota smoking ban increases revenue in bars & restaurants....

......in smoking allowed Wisconsin that is.

[...a] few days into the ban, which took effect Monday, there hasn't been a rush of cigarette-wielding Minnesotans over the river. But some [Wisconsin] tavern workers have noticed a few strange faces mixed in with their regulars.

Erin Kenney, a bartender at Pudge's, said she's seen from six to 12 new customers a day during daytime hours. "It might not sound like much, but during the day that can make a big difference," she said. "Two guys came from West St. Paul just so they could smoke. I have some new regulars now, I think."

Bartender Neil Phillips, of Dibbo's in Hudson, said the ban has been a boon. "Starting Monday, we doubled our business," he said. "About 25 percent of the new people came back Tuesday night and the next night.

"He said the new law could bring back the good old days when Minnesota bars closed at 1 a.m. and drinkers rushed across the border to make Wisconsin's 2 a.m. closing.

"Obviously, it's a good thing," he said.

Full story found here.

Who could have guessed this would happen......apparently not the Nicoderm funded lobbyists, nor the short sighted Minnesota lawmakers.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Clearing the Air proposes legislation to assist individuals financially ruined because of smoking bans

We were all hoodwinked by local special interest (Nicoderm) funded pro-smoking ban non-profit organizations, to legislate the manner in which hospitality owners conduct business. However because the American Lung of MN,, American Heart Assoc., American Cancer Society, the American Medical Association received a cumulative $446+ million from Nicoderm maker Johnson & Johnson company's political division, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the lobbying for smoking bans was less than forthcoming in its agenda.

Further to note, air quality testing by numerous groups proves that secondhand smoke levels are far safer than OSHA workplace permissible exposure limits.

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

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/04/bmj-published-air-quality-test-results.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/11/johns-hopkins-air-quality-testing-of.html

These results are significant because smoking bans were passed based on the justification that secondhand smoke endangered the health of workers.....clearly an exaggeration as regulating the acceptable exposure level of workers is what OSHA does best. Yet air quality testing proves that secondhand smoke levels are up to 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA air quality regulations.

This is of course water under the bridge until a new legislature changes the smoking ban laws to pre-empt local laws and reverse the bans.

What isn't water under the bridge however, is the damage to businesses, jobs, and our local economy being experienced now due to these arbitrary and onerous laws. Examples include 439+ closed MN hospitality establishments, and MN economic data which shows we lost 1,200 hospitality jobs in September of 2007, or that we also shed 2,100 hospitality jobs in April of 2007. Gaming control recorded $14.1 million in revenue losses in Hennepin & Ramsey Counties after less than 12 months of local smoking bans.

I am not writing simply to rehash the old arguments......I am writing to inform you that real people in our local economy are suffering due to these smoking ban laws. What I am proposing is that the rent seeking organizations which funded the lobbyists who exaggerated and misled well intentioned lawmakers, be held accountable for the financial devastation we are now experiencing.

Johnson & Johnson Company is enjoying record profits from sales of their tobacco cessation products such as Nicoderm & Nicoderm CQ, since their political division RWJF funded the successful smoking ban movement .....a classic rent seeking maneuver. Specifically, what I propose is that a percentage of all Johnson & Johnson products sold in Minnesota should be collected and pooled into an emergency relief fund to assist hospitality business owners, employees, vendors, etc. harmed by the smoking ban laws they funded and crafted.

This law will serve 2 important functions:

1) Aid displaced business owners, workers, and vendors at NO cost to taxpayers or Minnesota government.

2) Serve as notice to any and all other special interest or rent seeking entities that in Minnesota they do so at their own peril.

Thank you for listening, and please consider this proposed legislation very seriously....peoples' lives and livelihoods in Minnesota and elsewhere have been very negatively impacted......and should be assisted by the very organizations who funded and profited from the resulting legislation.

This proposal is also mentioned at Wright County Republican, and should be replicated everywhere a smoking ban is enacted.

Additional reading:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2009/03/worldwide-economic-meltdown-and.html