Clearing The Air

Monday, December 31, 2007

RWJF's $446+ million contribution to boost Nicoderm sales and parent company Johnson & Johnson profits

It's important to remember while reading these grants, that RWJF is the lap dog and single largest shareholder of Johnson & Johnson stock. And equally important to understand is that J & J's subsidiary ALZA manufactures Nicoderm & Nicoderm CQ. Their interest in funding the smoking ban movement then, is completely self-serving and motivated by profit. Exaggerations and erroneous hype about the effects of secondhand smoke can surely be expected.

Find individual grants here:

http://www.rwjf.org/en/grants/search.html?d=&sort=amount-desc&l=&k=smokeless+states

Meanwhile, air quality testing around the globe confirms secondhand smoke is NOT a health hazard:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2010/09/new-st-louis-aq-study-published-by.html

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

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

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

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

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/03/british-medical-journal-who-conclude.html

Smoking cigarettes can be hazardous to the smoker, no argument there. However, secondhand smoke is not the deadly hazard pro-smoking ban groups claim. Which should lead one to question what is the real agenda, and why the hype?

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Minnesota's anti-business, pro-smoking ban lawmakers close down 150+ businesses

List online here:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/01/100-bars-and-restaurants-put-out-of.html

Liberal, lazy, and special interest funded lawmakers were swindled into believing a Nicoderm funded fairy tale. Unfortunately for us they get to keep their jobs....until the next election that is. The thousands now unemployed by their actions are not so lucky.

Friday, December 28, 2007

Minnesota's new statewide smoking ban is already closing down rural bars and restaurants

Detroit Lakes, MN. T.F. Boonies is one of the first outstate victims of the 2 month old statewide smoking ban.

http://kstp.com/article/stories/S251768.shtml

A Detroit Lakes area bar owner is blaming Minnesota's new smoking ban for putting him out of business........Tweten said his "happy hours" were growing when the ban hit, but after that his after-work business shrunk to nothing.

Tweten, a former Moorhead bar owner, said most established bars may be able to hang on - but he predicts some will have no choice but to close because of the smoking ban.

Clearing the Air has chronicled 142+ closed local establishments since Twin Cities smoking bans were implemented, we have no doubt that Mr. Tweten is correct in stating the statewide ban will have the same effect. There is overwhelming evidence that smoking bans have NEVER increased business.....but have actually closed nearly 1,000 establishments and eliminated tens of thousands of jobs.

Meanwhile air quality testing has overwhelmingly concluded that secondhand smoke IS NOT a workplace health hazard:

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

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

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

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

Perhaps there is a special interest agenda driving the smoking ban movement.

KSTP news ran a story suggesting that New York's smoking ban reduced smoking 11%......the truth however is just the opposite

It is very telling that the local media is no longer claiming that smoking bans are good for business, as they did before the bans were enacted.

With 141+ closed bars and restaurants since smoking bans took effect in the Twin Cities, the media and Nicoderm funded non-profits can no longer hide the truth. The media, MPAAT (ClearWay MN), the American Lung Association, American Cancer Society, Non-Smoker's Rights, Tobacco Free Kids, and other Nicoderm funded special interests lied to the public and lawmwkers when they claimed that smoking bans are good for business.

So KSTP's news story focused on a local watering hole called the Star Bar which informed viewers that they have so far lost 40% of their revenue since the 2 month old smoking ban took effect. KSTP couldn't of course leave it on that negative note however, so they made the outrageous claim that New York's smoking ban led to a decrease in smoking rates of 11%......that however is not a true statement. The truth is that New York's increased tobacco tax decreased sales of tobacco products in New York perhaps by 11%.......but the fact is that those New York smokers are now buying their tobacco products from tax exempt tribal casinos, online websites, and across state lines......in fact the smoking ban in Scotland has led to a 5% increase in tobacco sales and use.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Funding to promote exaggerated secondhand smoke claims.....comes from a very dubious, self serving source

This self serving , dubious type of lobbying by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, an affiliate of the Johnson & Johnson / ALZA Company which manufactures or owns Nicoderm, NicodermCQ, Nicorette, Nicotrol, Commit, etc. is also known as rent seeking legislation.

Rent seeking refers to lobbying efforts by an entity to acquire a government mandate (use) of their products or services over a competitors, by using the force of government (smoking bans) to achieve that end.

In this case Nicoderm manufacturer J & J /ALZA use their private foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), to convince lawmakers (lobbying via non-profits) that tobacco use needs to be banned at private hospitality establishments.......in an effort to increase sales of their alternative nicotine products.

However, it is important to note that air quality testing of secondhand smoke proves the hazards are greatly exaggerated (SHS is actually up to 25,000 times safer than Occupational Safety regulations):

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

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

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

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

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

RWJF (a 501(c)3 organization) funding to force (lobby) smoke-free laws should draw closer scrutiny by the IRS

From RWJF's website

GoingSmokeFree.org: A Toolkit for Implementing Smoke-Free Laws

...builds upon more than 20 years of experience implementing smoke-free laws and compelling evidence that smoke-free laws are good for health and business...

http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/2009.rwjf.financial.statements.pdf

http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/rwjf2010finstmts.pdf

excerpt:

The (RWJF) Foundation is an organization exempt from Federal taxation under Section 501(c)(3) and is a private foundation as described in Section 509(a) of the Internal Revenue Code....

And further, according to RWJF's own documents:

http://www.rwjf.org/files/publications/books/2005/chapter_02.pdf

pg 3 exceprt:

A second, related issue was that of lobbying. In state capitals across the country, the tobacco industry lobbied, and it lobbied hard. Lobbying by tobacco-control advocates would have to be done to counteract the actions of the tobacco industry. But federal law prohibits private foundations from
lobbying, and grantees cannot legally use Foundation funds for that purpose. Legally, the Foundation’s grantees were allowed to use their own resources and matching funds raised privately to lobby. Federal regulations permit foundations to support projects that include lobbying, so long as
they support only the non-lobbying portion of the project. Thus, the Foundation’s conditions of grant expressly prohibited Foundation funds from being used for lobbying.

pg 4 excerpt:

To accomplish these goals, it (RWJF) sought applications from statewide coalitions made up of organizations such as the health voluntaries (the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, and the American Lung Association), state medical societies, hospital associations, and others. The coalitions were to conduct public education campaigns, strengthen prevention and treatment capacity, and advocate for tobacco-control policies (a.k.a. lobbying by CTA's definition). To encourage collaboration among the various organizations working on tobacco control within a state, the Foundation allowed only one coalition per state to apply.

Shows that RWJF realized they could not get caught lobbying directly......and that their grant funds couldn't be used by those surrogates who received RWJF money for lobbying activities......yeah right; I'm sure that happened.

Apparently the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, heir to the Johnson & Johnson / Nicoderm ($500 million annual pharmaceutical nicotine sales fortune), forgot to tell these 500+ closed Twin Cities bars and restaurants just how good those smoke free laws are for their businesses and employees. RWJF also seems to have forgotten to inform these additional 1,000+ closed establishments and tens of thousands of employess just how much they would prosper as well.

More than likely, the Robert Wood Johnson (RWJF) and Johnson & Johnson Company are more concerned with how much they will financially prosper......they have little or no concern regarding the damages caused by their smoke free laws.

This grant is an open admission by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that they have supported and funded the lobbying efforts to pass smoking bans around the globe for 20+ years.......some might call this a clear violation of the IRS code as it applies to a 501(c)3 foundation.

At the very least RWJF's very close relationship with the Nicoderm manufacturer Johnson & Johnson (ALZA) makes these same lobbying efforts a rent seeking maneuver pure and simple.

To become a tax-exempt organization, the organization must meet the requirements given by the IRS. Charitable organizations are not to be operated for private interest. The organization cannot support or endorse any political or legislative activities (such as lobbying, or funding lobbyists).

http://www.irs.gov/charities/foundations/article/0,,id=175254,00.html

The IRS Rules on Charitable Organizations | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/list_7468220_irs-rules-charitable-organizations.html#ixzz1n9w5VYD6

Monday, December 17, 2007

The smoking ban lobbyists have a message for you

Learn how pharmaceutical nicotine interests are going to save us all from the tobacco industry.

The companies which capitalize may have changed but the body count remains the same. (Chantix hazardous side effects may result in new warning label according to European health regulators)

More on the hazards of smoking cessation products from FORCES website:

"I would rather die after 35 years of smoking than overnight from taking a Zyban tablet." Alan Gardiner, a UK smoker who had a massive seizure after using Zyban to quit smoking. Quoted in "Zyban…Over 37 Deaths," The Daily Record, June 1, 2001.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Minnesota bars and restaurants outside the metro area are already starting to experience revenue decline thanks to the statewide smoking ban

Minnesota's statewide ban went into effect 10/1/2007, but already the losses are mounting.

The fact that we in MN have to get this news from a Wisconsin paper is very telling.......MN media is unwilling to report the truth about the ban's damaging effects on our businesses, jobs and local economy.

Some excerpts:

Winona, Minn. — Winona bars are reporting a steep decline in business a month after a statewide smoking ban went into effect.

At the 500 Club, bartender Becky Brinkmeyer has noticed some regulars aren’t staying as long. Others aren’t coming in at all. “People used to come in here because they can’t smoke in their car or home,” Brinkmeyer said. “Now they can’t smoke here.”

Bar owners throughout the state are reporting a drop in business as a result of the smoking ban, and with winter coming, they fear it could get worse. Liquor stores seem to be enjoying some benefits...

The Winona American Legion has seen a similar decrease in sales, and not just alcohol. Bartender Barb Schewe says pull-tab charitable gambling sales are way down.

Smokers staying home?

The smoking ban may be a boon for liquor stores.

Third Street Liquor owner Ken Siebenaler said he’s seen a slight increase in sales but it’s too early to tell if it’s because more people are drinking at home rather than the bars.

Kato Liquor manager Aimee Larson said her store has also seen a slight increase. “I think we’ll see more of an increase as it gets colder,” she said.

The real test to for Winona bars will come in about six months, said Tom Overland, owner of The Bar and the Mankato Bar. He said both businesses have experienced about a 20 to 30 percent loss.

When city and county smoking bans closed down 138+ establishments in the Twin Cities area, the Nicoderm /RWJF funded activists at Non-Smoker' Rights, American Lung Association, American Cancer Society, the AMA, etc. told state lawmakers they needed to "level the playing field". The special interest funded activists claimed that the only reason 138 metro establishments lost business was because the city and county bans forced patrons out state.

So now the Nicoderm funded statewide smoking ban is in place and guess what.......the playing field has been leveled..........all of Minnesota's hospitality establishments across the state now get to equally share in the revenue losses.........good work boneheads.

Minnesota lawmakers were swindled by the cheap talk and lies from the snake oil (Nicoderm) / Johnson & Johnson affiliated Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)........sure is nice to see their product sales are on the rise.......what a shock.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Minnesota smoking ban triples demand of Nicoderm (nicotine patch) products

That information comes from ClearWay MN and Blue Cross Blue Shield, and can be found here.

According to BCBS / Clearway MN and quoted in the Star Tribune:

Compared to October 2006, the number of over-the-counter products like the (Nicoderm) patch and nicotine gum that it provided to members tripled to a total of 10,000 claims.

Meanwhile Pfizer admits increased tobacco taxes more than doubled demand for their controversial smoking cessation drug Chantix:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20101014a3.html

As Clearing the Air has repeatedly informed readers, the maker of Nicoderm (Johnson & Johnson Company / ALZA) fund the smoking ban movement thru its sister organization, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).

Now having successfully used the force of government (smoking bans) to increase sales of pharmaceutical nicotine products, it seems the $200+ million "investment" is beginning to pay off as expected..........sorry to tell the sheeple out there, but it was never about health......it was about profits pure and simple.

Over the counter pharmaceutical nicotine sales account for $500+ million annually.

Even as science has repeatedly proven that secondhand smoke never was a workplace health hazard.

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/2004/04/american-cancer-society-test-results.html

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

Virginia special interests attempt an "end around" as a new strategy to force a statewide smoking ban

However, what these special interest lawmakers don't realize is that there is new air quality data (conducted quietly by other pro-smoking ban groups) which shows that secondhand smoke IS NOT a workplace health hazard.

The air quality test results as compared to Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations show that secondhand smoke levels are up to 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA permissible exposure limits (pel). OSHA pel are the safe acceptable level of exposure for workers for 8 hours per day, 40 hours per week.

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/2004/04/american-cancer-society-test-results.html

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

So the bottom line is that the traditional argument used to justify smoking bans in the past, "workplace health hazard" is no longer valid.

Read more about Virginia special interests "end around" attempt here.

Sunday, December 09, 2007

Smoking bans in the UK, Wales, and Scotland cause financial ruin for the hospitality industry across the pond

That information can be found in this article.

Enterprise Inns, the UK's second-largest pub group, warned of "closures across the industry". It has put 96 of its 2,700 pubs up for sale.

And in Wales, where a ban on smoking was introduced in April, pubs have lost an estimated 20% of their trade. Bingo halls and working men's clubs are also feeling the pinch. In Scotland, more than 20 bingo halls have already closed since the ban was introduced; scores more are under threat of closure across Britain

But the smoking bans are wrong not just because they are putting people out of jobs and adversely affecting the economy. The main objection to the anti-smoking legislation is the way it is destroying social life in Britain.

Britain's estimated 12 million smokers have a choice: they go out to a pub or club and then have to stand outside, like social outcasts, on a cold and often wet pavement every time they fancy a smoke; or they simply stay at home. Unsurprisingly, millions are opting for the latter.

Here in Minnesota Clearing the Air chronicled a similar experience, with 138+ establishment closings. Smoking bans, contrary to Nicoderm funded activists' testimony, reduce revenues in the hospitality industry everywhere they are enacted.

Meanwhile, all the air quality testing conducted by these same Nicoderm funded groups, prove that secondhand smoke is up to 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA regulations.......ie. not a workplace health hazard.

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/2004/04/american-cancer-society-test-results.html

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

Friday, December 07, 2007

Zogby poll shows that 65% of Americans think the FDA should regulate prescription drugs, not tobacco products

That poll can be found online here.

“These poll results show Americans want the Food and Drug Administration to concentrate not on tobacco, but rather on policing our food supply and our medicines,” said Pollster John Zogby........“This is even more evident given that these poll results came before FDA Chairman Andrew von Eschenbach reiterated his opposition to FDA regulation of tobacco.

The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (CTFK) disagrees with the FDA Chairman.....but as Clearing the Air has demonstrated on numerous occasions, CTFK takes its marching orders (and $70 million worth of funding) from Johnson & Johnson Company affiliate the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). As such, perhaps CTFK & RWJF have a competing underlying agenda.

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

As expected, the alarmist anti-tobacco movement has spurred a backlash, which will not eliminate the use of tobacco.........quite the opposite.

The backlash is very similar to what America experienced when alcohol prohibition was enacted, the birth of the speakeasy movement.

In this case however, National Smoking Day (December 31,2007) is the response to smoking bans enacted in the U.K.

Apparently, freedom loving Britains, are smokin' mad and they're not going to take it anymore.....visit their website and send a message to the anti-business actions of pro-smoking ban lawmakers. Secondhand smoke never was a workplace health hazard, and the efforts of special interest funded social activists should be met with resistance at every turn.

Dr. Siegel, one of the founding members of the tobacco control movement, admits his conscience is troubled

His article is here.

He has good reason to be troubled. Unnecessary smoking bans have bankrupted thousands of businesses and eliminated tens of thousands of jobs.

I said unnecessary because the claimed justification for the bans, by tobacco control activists, is that secondhand smoke is a workplace health hazard. However, every air quality test these same groups have conducted prove that secondhand smoke levels are up to 25,000 times SAFER than Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations.

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

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

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

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

How can a substance measured to be up to 25,000 times safer than OSHA permissible exposure limits be declared a workplace health hazard? It's simple, politicians are NOT researching the facts for themselves, rather they are simply implementing laws based on special interest, self serving "data."

I have one message for Dr. Siegel: your conscience will not truly be cleared until you renounce the smoking ban movement entirely.......the harm to the hospitality industry is far, far more damaging to peoples lives than you realize.

Saturday, December 01, 2007

Pro-smoking ban former governor and Republican candidate Mike Huckabee is more liberal than Clinton

At least when it comes to taxes and his anti-business policy-making.

Read more about his anti-conservative scorecard in this Arkansas newpaper editorial.

Update: Huckabee also appears to be very liberal when it comes to dealing with criminals.

How the Huckabee administration worked to free rapist Wayne Dumond.
By Murray S. Waas

“I signed the [parole] papers because the governor (Mike Huckabee) wanted Dumond paroled. I was thinking the governor was working for the best interests of the state.”—Ermer Pondexter, ex-member of the board of pardons and paroles

Suttlar noted that just prior to Huckabee’s appearance before the (parole) board the board had voted 4-1 against Dumond’s parole. After Huckabee’s board appearance, her colleagues largely reversed themselves, voting 4-1 for Dumond’s release.

Only six weeks after Dumond moved to Missouri, Carol Sue Shields, of Parkville, Mo., was found murdered in a friend’s home. She had been sexually assaulted and suffocated. In late June 2001, Missouri authorities charged Dumond with the first-degree murder of Shields. The Clay County, Mo., prosecutor’s office asserted that skin found under Shield’s fingernails, the result of an apparent struggle with her murderer, contained DNA that matched Dumond’s.

The mother of murder victim, Carol Sue Shields, said she will do everything she can to ensure that Mike Huckabee is not elected President......we at Clearing the Air echo that sentiment.

Update 2: Huckabee also helped parole another confessed killer, Glen Green.

If the governor didn't read the confession, he is guilty of dereliction of duty.___ But if he read the confession and still considers Green deserving of parole, he's certainly unfit to hold office. Who would free a madman who beat an 18-year-old woman with Chinese martial-arts sticks, raped her as she barely clung to life, ran over her with his car, then dumped her in the bayou, her hand reaching up, as if begging for mercy?

Mike Huckabee is unfit for the highest office, his surge in Iowa can only be attributed to voters' ignorance of the facts.

Should fireplace fires be banned?

San Francisco; home of the enlightened-the-loafers, dirt munching, tree hugging druids; has decided to continue their nanny state assault by considering a ban on home heating methods.

Is this new consideration due to the same false health hazard fears that fueled smoking bans? Seems logical given that buring wood smoke produces far more hazardous chemical components than tobacco smoke. But the article asks whether alarmist fears of global warming may be the true motive:

Is this decision truly about air quality or global warming?

Interestingly, one loses on the issues of global warming because the odd paradox is, the more there is cloud cover or "smoke" in the air, the cooler the Earth will be. It is well documented how the Earth's temperature cooled after the explosion of the volcano Krakatoa. From that standpoint, one ought to encourage fires which produce the maximum amount of smoke.

NASA explored the above question here and concluded:

What is the mechanism wherby volcanic eruptions can make the Earth cooler? The volcanic clouds that reach into the stratosphere are composed of particulates and gases, including sulfur dioxide. Millions of tons of sulfur dioxide in the stratosphere can be readily converted to sulfuric acid particles (referred to as aerosols), which reflect energy coming from the Sun back to space. This solar energy is therefore not available to heat the Earth's surface and lower atmosphere.........The so-called "year without a summer" is attributed to the eruption of Tambora in the East Indes in 1815. This was an epic eruption. In New England, for example, there were summer frosts and poor crops.....

It would seem then that a ban on wood smoke may be just as disasterous and ill-advised as a ban on tobacco smoke in private bars and restaurants has been.

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