Clearing The Air

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Global unemployment rate expected to continue to increase in 2008

GENEVA: More people will be out of work in 2008 as a result of global economic cooling, and any major slowdown could cause disruption and further hike unemployment, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said on Thursday.

And just as smoking bans here in the U.S. are a serious contributing factor to the domestic unemployment rate and poor economy, smoking bans across the globe are having a similarly negative effect on jobs and the global economy.

When will lawmakers wise up to this secondhand smoke is hazardous hoax. Air quality testing across the globe proves that secondhand smoke is actually 2.6 - 25,000 times SAFER than occupational (OSHA) workplace 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

There is one purpose and one purpose only that smoking ban lobbyists are forcing these anti-business bans upon governments......they have been funded by pharmaceutical (J & J / RWJF interests) to promote this issue for market share and alternative nicotine profits.

But the cost is far too high with tens of thousands losing jobs and homes in the U.S. and perhaps hundreds of thousands or more losing jobs and homes around the world.

This self-serving, rent seeking type of legislation (smoking ban) needs to end and current misguided laws need to be repealed if the domestic and global economy is going to be repaired. Implementing laws that eliminate jobs and close businesses is not a step in the right direction.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Clearing the Air tries to keep the subject matter on track.....but I must deviate to air a concern

Barack Hussein Obama for President?

Do American voters fully understand the term sleeper cell?

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Major restaurant chain with 626 restaurants, headquartered in Eagan MN, files bankruptcy

Story found online here:

The company that owns Country Buffet, Ryan's and Tahoe Joe's brands filed for bankruptcy Tuesday.......Buffets Holdings Inc., which is based in Eagan, Minn., is one of the largest casual dining restaurant chains in the country. The company cited weak consumer spending for its financial troubles.

More in depth coverage can be found here:

The interesting thing to me personally, is that Buffet Holdings came to my company just a couple of years ago during a recent trade show with ambitious goals for a new franchise expansion, they would require ventilation / filtration systems to accommodate smokers and non-smokers at these new establishments.......fortunately the pharmaceutical funded smoking ban activists have eliminated that capital expense necessity for them.......what a relief.

Update: List of 400+ local MN bars and restaurants closed since smoking bans enacted, found here:

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

Monday, January 28, 2008

Pharmaceutical interests who funded smoking ban laws expect pharmaceutical nicotine sales to reach $4.6 billion annually by 2016

I guess that answers the question of whether it was a worthwhile investment for Nicoderm manufacturer Johnson & Johnson Company's foundation (RWJF) to continue funding smoking ban lobbyists such as the American Lung Association, American Cancer Society, American Non-Smoker's Rights, AMA, etc. to the tune of $200+ million.

Anti-smoking vaccines: set to ignite underdeveloped prescription market

25th January 2008
By PBR Staff Writer

Although many smokers are keen to kick their habit, will power by itself is often not sufficient and smoking cessation aids are often needed. The prescription nicotine dependence market is set to grow strongly at a compound annual growth rate of 16% to reach $4.6 billion by 2016, driven by two promising pipeline nicotine vaccines and Pfizer's popular nicotine receptor agonist Chantix.

The author does not mention that worldwide smoking bans are the real impetus for such an ambitious prediction, nor the fact that Johnson & Johnson Company merged with the Chantix drug maker Pfizer.

Also left out of the article is the fact that Johnson & Johnson Company's private political wing, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), provided hundreds of millions of dollars to make this high-reaching marketing plan a very real possibility.

Even as these rent seeking smoking ban laws (funded by pharmaceutical interests) are being implemented by local governments to "protect the health of workers"; new air quality testing proves that secondhand smoke is actually 2.6 - 25,000 times SAFER than occupational (OSHA) workplace 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

It all just goes to show that unethical business methods can result in large dividends for greedy special interests.....because uninformed or apathetic lawmakers are easily manipulated by false and misleading data; even though tens of thousands of people are thrust into unemployment lines as a direct result of these smoking ban (pharmaceutical nicotine marketing) laws.

(thanks to Iro Cyr for the story tip)

Friday, January 25, 2008

Economist at the Federal Reserve declares smoking bans have a negative impact on the economy

The article is found online here.

Excerpt:

ST. LOUIS, MO (2008-01-24) An economist with the Federal Reserve Bank in St. Louis says that the economic impact of smoking bans may be more significant than previously thought.

Here in Minnesota we've chronicled 151+ closed establishments, with outstate sources telling us two days ago about another 13 unconfirmed closings in the western part of the state.

We've also documented unemployment data in the Twin Cities which shows the job losses specific to the hospitality industry:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/05/minnesotas-unemployment-rate.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/10/mn-smoking-bans-continue-closing-bars.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/09/star-tribune-story-tells-of-economic.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/08/smoking-bans-and-organizations-that.html

Across the country the negative effects are being multiplied.....the results are the same where ever bans are implemented:

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

Yet, the justification for the workplace bans continues to be proven unnecessary by sound scientific air quality testing:

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

(Thanks to Vince Harden for the story alert)

Pharmaceutical industry scams exposed

For years, pharmaceutical companies have courted America's doctors with an ever-growing intensity, showering them with billions of dollars' worth of gifts, consulting fees and trips to persuade them to prescribe their drugs...Whether they know it or not, "many doctors have been prescribing according to industry profits rather than the patient's needs," says Brody of the University of Texas.

The article then goes on to say:

But now, patient advocates and lawmakers are out to break up those relationships....

However, lawmakers seem unwilling to put an end to the pharmaceutical industry's influence in municipal court houses or state capitols. The number one source of funding to groups like the American Lung Association, American Cancer Society, American Non-Smoker's Rights, AMA, etc. to lobby for smoking ban laws comes from Johnson & Johnson Company's private foundation the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). Johnson and Johnson's subsidiary ALZA is the manufacturer of Nicoderm & Nicoderm CQ......and now after the merger with Pfizer J & J now profits from Nicotrol sales.

Pharmaceutical nicotine product sales are a very profitable business, once you get lawmakers to pass smoking bans. Currently pharmaceutical nicotine sales account for $500+ million dollars in annual business, but Blue Cross of MN has reported that demand for nicotine patches tripled once smoking bans were implemented.

And finally if lawmakers would remove the special interests' influence peddling and falsified data, they would learn that secondhand smoke levels are 2.6 to 25,000 times SAFER than occupational workplace (OSHA) 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

The hazard in allowing these special interests to dictate rent seeking laws, is clearly being felt in the economic community across the globe.

(thanks to Brenda Perks for bringing the AARP story to my attention)

Monday, January 21, 2008

Modern day Germans refuse to give in to Aryan NAZI laws.....while the rest of the world seems only too happy to follow in Hitler's footsteps

For those unfamiliar, Hitler and NAZI Germany were one of the first to impose a smoking ban upon their people.

Today governments around the globe are only too eager to impose those same NAZI laws upon their populations.

Germans however, are very hesitant to revisit that horrific low point in their history. Case in point, this article about Germans refusal to take the new smoking ban in stride:

'Some feel a deep necessity nowadays to distance themselves from the Nazi position - according to which cigarettes were damaging to the idea of the "ideal German Aryan" .....The new law has triggered a rebellion and many people have taken drastic and imaginative measures so they can continue smoking......One campaigner went as far as to issue a T-shirt bearing a yellow star of David along with the word 'smoker', comparing the 'persecution' of smokers to that of Jews under the Nazis.

Perhaps modern day liberal politicians would do well to heed this insight, especially in light of the fact that air quality testing now proves 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

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Ironic.....local American politicians enact socialist (smoking ban) laws more readily than communist China

Even though smoking bans bankrupt thousands of businesses and eliminate tens of thousands of jobs, U.S. state and municipal lawmakers continue to enact these ordinances despite recent air quality testing which prove there is no 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

Meanwhile in communist China where the government knows a thing or two about implementing laws for the "collective good of the people" ......even these communists understand the hazards of passing laws based on falsified information.

"...Beijing's first smoke-free restaurant chain faces going out of business after its customers deserted it in droves after the (voluntary) ban was enforced, state media reported on Friday.....Beijing authorities had written to 30,000 restaurants asking them to put smoking bans in place, but not a single one had taken up the suggestion, the paper said

It's definitely a sign of the times when communist China understands the free market system better than U.S. lawmakers. There are far too many special interests and socialist liberal politicians in office here.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Any which way the wind blows....Huckabee proposes a nationwide smoking ban....now opposes? He'll tell you whatever you want to hear

You may remember that the Huckster proposed a nationwide smoking ban about the same time as the pasture people in Iowa were somehow mesmerized by this liberal charlatan. However, after Fred Thompson ridiculed Hucky during the New Hampshire debate for his nationwide nanny notions...his campaign does an about face.

Or perhaps Huckman has been reading about these air quality test results which prove 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

Sunday, January 13, 2008

New York Health Department seeks to remove smoking ban waivers

That story is found online here.

Excerpts:

Chautauqua County health officials are at least considering the idea of rescinding waivers that allow some local businesses to include designated smoking rooms at their respective locations.....local business owners plan to attend the meeting in support of the smoking waivers, which began to be distributed after the 2003 smoking ban went into effect in New York state...Brenda Perks, one of the most outspoken critics of the smoking ban in Chautauqua County, fears that many businesses that are starting to bounce back thanks to the waivers will once again feel the sting of a drop-off in customers .....‘‘You take that smoking room away from them and they are going to drown,’’ said Mrs. Perks....‘‘There’s not a club in this county that’s not struggling.’’ Waivers have been given on an annual basis if proprietors could prove they suffered a signficant drop in business because of the anti-smoking regulations....

The interesting thing this article points out is that New York's smoking ban allows exemptions. Activists who testified in favor of the bans here in Minnesota never divulged that piece of information to lawmakers, they merely stated that smoking ban in New York did not cause financial harm, smoking ban exemptions would explain the reason why.

For the record however, New York's smoking bans closed down 160+ establishments.......even with the exemptions that NY lawmakers are now trying to eliminate.

Meanwhile, Minnesota's smoking bans have closed down 151+ establishments and offer no such exemptions, except for tribal casinos, even as air quality testing by groups such as Johns Hopkins and the American Cancer Society proved that secondhand smoke is up to 25,000 times SAFER than occupational safety air quality regulations require:

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

Update: An attempt to elimiante NY smoking ban waivers for select bars and restaurants was defeated 1/18/08.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Even if presidential candidates Mike Huckabee or Hilary Clinton did want a nationwide smoking ban, this U.S. congressional report exposes the fraud

From American Liberty Publishers comes this article: Smoking Bans are Killing People (excerpts below)

....the Congressional Research Service, at the request of the U.S. Congress, looked at the same data as EPA and concluded: “It is possible that very few or even no deaths can be attributed to ETS [environmental tobacco smoke].” Further, it stated that nonsmokers exposed to pack-a-day ETS every day for 40 years have “little or no risk of developing lung cancer”—much less dying from it. The CRS is part of the Library of Congress and has all the resources of that esteemed institution at its disposal. It is highly respected, nonpartisan, accepted by both Republicans and Democrats as fair and impartial, has no ties to tobacco companies, no regulatory or other agenda, and accepts no outside funding.

Then there was the Congressional Investigation by the U.S. House of Representatives. It found that EPA, in its study of secondhand smoke, was guilty of “conscious misuse of science and the scientific process to achieve a political agenda that could not otherwise be justified.” It also stated: “The agency has deliberately abused and manipulated scientific data in order to reach a predetermined, politically motivated result.”

...while the smoking ban activists claimed their aim to be a healthier society, the hatred they spawned and laws they achieved have been producing violence and death. Last week the Minneapolis Star Tribune carried an article headlined: “Man Charged with Severing Wife's Tongue and Windpipe.” It states that the man slashed her throat because she smoked a cigarette to celebrate her birthday. She is in critical condition, and he is being charged with attempted murder. There are many examples of such violence (read more here) because of the hatred whipped up by the anti-smoking activists.

Once again, it is clear that, regardless of the good intentions of the jihadist do-gooders, lies and a belief that the end justifies the means simply do not work. They cannot make a safer world than truth, science and respect for individual rights--including property rights--of people causing no harm to others. Liberty is still the best answer--in fact, the only answer--to a better, safer society. But some people never learn; they keep trying to prove that force is better than freedom and individual rights. And their mistakes continue to be paid for with the blood and lives of innocent people.

Air quality testing published in the British Medical Journal, conducted by such groups as the American Cancer Society, Johns Hopkins, Environmental Health Departments, etc. prove secondhand smoke is up to 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA air quality regulations, which explains the reason nobody has died from exposure to secondhand smoke.....contrary to Nicoderm funded activists claims.

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

Smoking bans kill more people than they save

Another recent story of an individual forced outdoors to enjoy a legal product......and later found dead of exposure.

Article link here:

Members of Collen's family say they have been told he went into the care home's courtyard around 1 a.m. to have a cigarette. The temperature was around –20 C the night of Collen's death, with a wind chill of –31.

At this website you'll find 100+ incidents of violence, murder, and death of smokers due to smoking bans.

While these websites chronicle the elimination of 10,000 - 20,000 jobs..... lost due to smoking bans.

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

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

When Clearing the Air says smoking bans kill more people than they save, that data comes from air quality testing published in the British Medical Journal, conducted by such groups as the American Cancer Society, Johns Hopkins, Environmental Health Departments, etc. Secondhand smoke is up to 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA air quality regulations, which explains the reason nobody has died from exposure to secondhand smoke.....contrary to Nicoderm funded activists claims.

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, January 09, 2008

Eden Prairie, MN official describes the aggressive nature of Nicoderm funded pro-smoking ban activists

http://edenprairieweblogs.org/scottneal/post/185/

Excerpts:

....After a long interview process.......I finally secured my new job here in Eden Prairie...I got up early the next day to head into my office ....I had a voice mail message......the message was from a woman named Ms. Isis Stark congratulating me on my new job in Eden Prairie, and requesting a meeting with me......she was working on behalf of the American Cancer Society and that she needed my help in getting a smoking ban ordinance adopted in Eden Prairie....The proponents of the smoking ban ordinances are...people who believe strongly in the rightousness of what they are doing. As the instigators of a new initiative, they have the advantage of being able to plan and advance on a target....They will investigate the personal lives of elected officials ....and attempt to exploit any perceived political vulnerabilities with a vengeance....

What Scott Neal doesn't disclose is whether he was aware that the "well intentioned" American Cancer Society was actually funded by Nicoderm interests from Johnson & Johnson Company's Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.....$99 million conflict of interest funding.

Gee why would a company that manufactures alernative nicotine products like Nicoderm want tobacco use banned? And more importantly why wouldn't lawmakers take 15 minutes to research the rent seeking motives behind these unnecessary smoking ban laws?

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

Especially when these laws cause serious financial harm to businesses and our economy with significant job losses:

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

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/01/us-unemployment-rate-increase-to-2-year.html

In the end Eden Prairie opted not to pass a smoking ban in 2002, and as I was personally involved with providing ventilation options and information to city engineers, I naively assumed that other local governments would also be open to consider sound scientific facts and options in allowing smokers and non-smokers to co-exist in a pro-choice, free market setting.

Boy was I wrong, $200+ million in Nicoderm RWJF special interest funding easily overcomes facts and common sense.

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

A tale of two bar owners

The church mouse bar owner obeys the smoking ban law and is rewarded with a significant loss of customers and revenue:

http://www.whiotv.com/video/13426520/index.html

The bar owner who realizes that "public" smoking bans don't apply to their private establishment is rewarded with revenue-o-plenty and the admiration of those who appreciate that American rebel spirit:

http://www.whiotv.com/video/14571783/index.html

The free market system is a wonderful thing......as long as you don't let government over-regulation get in the way.

151+ closed bars and restaurants here in Minnesota played by the rules and look how they were rewarded. Local lawmakers don't care about how adversely your business is affected by the bans......perhaps it's time for hospitality business owner's to show lawmaker's the same consideration for their Nicoderm funded laws.

Fear about secondhand smoke was never the real purpose of enacting Johnson & Johnson (nicoderm) / RWJF funded smoking bans....that is evidenced in the air quality test results:

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

Sunday, January 06, 2008

St. Paul Pioneer Press laments over the loss of hospitality establishments......yet they refuse to look at the long, hard truth

Local media does some navel gazing about the loss of hospitality businesses.......but of course refuses to look at the real causes.

Excerpts:

...St. Paul's smoking ban is still fresh on tavern owners' lips......was a recent lament.....the number of new bars and restaurants attempting to open in downtown St. Paul has dwindled......While, the number of people living downtown has tripled......if you promote St. Paul for what it is, rather than what you want it to be, it'll come alive.....(St. Paul) City Council Member Dave Thune, who represents the downtown district, agrees the scene is evolving....

Thune should know best, he introduced smoking ban laws in the the Twin Cities area toward an evolution of what he wants Minnesota to be, a nanny state epitome of his Utopian, anti-business, socialist, "the good of the people" wet dream.

151+ bars and restaurants have closed in the local Twin Cities area since anti-business lawmakers enacted smoking ban laws funded by Nicoderm interests.

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

Friday, January 04, 2008

U.S. unemployment rate increase to a 2 year high, nationwide smoking bans are a serious contributing factor

Jobless Rates Hits 5 Percent, a 2-Year High, Fanning Recession Fears (link)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hiring practically stalled in December, driving the nation's unemployment rate up to a two-year high of 5 percent and fanning fears of a recession.

Recent nationwide smoking bans have eliminated approximately 2,000 bars and restaurants:

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

Closer to home, here in Minnesota bans have closed down nearly 300 establishments:

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

In the U.K. smoking bans closed over 3,000 pubs!:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2009/02/in-uk-during-past-two-years-3382-pubs.html

And if you haven't figured it out by now.......closed businesses, and hundreds of thousands of lost jobs due to smoking ban laws added significantly to the unemployment rate.

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

It would be nice to see the rent seeking pharmaceutical nicotine interests which fund the smoking ban movement held responsible. Specifically Nicoderm manufacturer Johnson & Johnson's private foundation RWJF.

Update: There is something that can be done to eliminate (reverse) the smoking bans which have put tens of thousands of people in the unemployment lines:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/04/new-way-to-reverse-smoking-bans-in-your.html

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

The RICO Act should be used against pharmaceutical (Nicoderm / RWJF) interests who deceive lawmakers about the false need to enact smoking bans

An online article states:

The United States Justice Department charges that under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), cigarette companies have deceived the public for decades in an effort to sell their products. Few would deny the deceptions, except perhaps the tobacco companies themselves. But what's most intriguing about this effort to prosecute Big Tobacco for racketeering is that the racketeering charges almost perfectly describe the behavior of Big Pharma (drug companies) today.

The drug companies (private foundation RWJF) is ..........funding so-called "independent research" that is actually highly-distorted science...claiming that secondhand smoke is a health hazard in an effort to sell their products.

RICO and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Johnson & Johnson Company's private foundation). Perhaps '08 will be the year lawmakers stand up to the special rent-seeking interests.

The large scale economic damages to our communities caused by these pharmaceutical nicotine interests, based on falsified "studies" deserve an in-depth investigation.

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

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Stanton Glantz's $400,000 funding from Nicoderm manufacturer Johnson & Johnson's private foundation RWJF

Stanton Glantz has been the recipient of massive amounts of money from Nicoderm maker Johnson & Johnson Company's partner RWJF......gee I wonder why Glantz is pro-smoking ban?

Active Grants
Tobacco Use & Exposure

Project:
Educational campaign for restaurant owners on smoke-free restaurants

Grant Detail:

$399,000, (awarded on Aug 11, 2005, starting Aug 15, 2005 ending Aug 14, 2007) ID# 052810

Grantee:

University of California, San Francisco,

School of Medicine513 Parnassus Avenue

San Francisco, CA 94143-0410

(415) 476-9000

Summary:

Efforts to adopt clean indoor air ordinances in states and communities are often derailed or substantially weakened by tobacco industry lobbying and media campaigns. The tobacco industry and its allies engage in disinformation strategies targeted to restaurant owners and associations about the effect of smoke-free policies on business. Lack of support among restaurateurs for strong smoke-free policies can present major barriers to their adoption at the state and/or local level. This grant provides renewal support for the continuation of the TobaccoScam restaurant educational campaign for two years. Funds will support the placement of 32 high-quality print advertisements in major restaurant trade publications. The renewal also funds targeted outreach to media and opinion leaders, with particular emphasis on restaurant industry leaders, and an enhanced Web site to promote smoke-free workplaces within the hospitality industry as the wave of the future, reframing the discussion from one of something to fear to something to emulate.

Contact Information:
Stanton A. Glantz Ph.D.

(Project Director)glantz@medicine.ucsf.edu
Phone: (415) 476-3893

Meanwhile, the facts are that smoking bans destroy businesses and jobs in the hospitality industry at an alarming rate, despite the fact that Nicoderm, Nicotrol, Nicorette interests above, such as RWJF and its grantees, attempted to spin the message that smoking bans "are good for business."

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

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2010/10/minnesota-releases-revenue-numbers-that.html

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

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?

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