Clearing The Air

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Chinese bar and restaurant owners tell smoking ban activists: "Fook you"

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-fg-china-smoke-20110430,0,1092056.story?track=rss

Sunday, April 17, 2011

If you believe intrusive government laws destroy free markets you'll love the new Atlas Shrugged movie playing in theatres now

http://www.atlasshruggedpart1.com/atlas-shrugged-movie-trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6W07bFa4TzM&feature=player_embedded

And unnecessary, intrusive government laws do indeed destroy free markets as evidenced here:

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

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

Did we say unnecessary? How can we make such a claim?

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2010/10/air-quality-testing-of-secondhand-smoke.html

Saturday, April 16, 2011

The bogus claim that smokers cost society money is once again proven false

The government estimates smoking-related illness costs about $300 million a year. But it collects $5.8 billion each year in tobacco excise duty (taxes).

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Question of the day: Do smoking bans and anti-obesity laws go hand in hand?

We know that RWJF's (J & J) promotion of smoking bans is profit motivated as explained here:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/02/smoking-bans-good-public-policy-or.html

And that RWJF's (J & J) promotion of anti-obesity laws is also profit motivated since Johnson & Johnson owns the sugar substitute product Splenda, as well as Realize brand laparoscopic banding and gastric bypass products.

And since it is common knowledge that most people who quit smoking usually add unwanted body weight, doesn't the promotion of smoking bans lead to the promotion of anti-obesity laws?.......both of which increase profits for Johnson & Johnson and its largest shareholder, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).

Resolved: Johnson & Johnson, by way of it's lobbying partner RWJF promotes smoking bans in order to sell Nicoderm, Nicotrol, Nicorette, etc. and the resulting weight gain helps promote the next sugary food bans (anti-obesity laws) which increase sales of Splenda and weight loss surgical products.

Ahhh, ain't government assisted "free-market capitalism" grand?

The problem of course, is that smoking bans decimated the hospitality industry, eliminating businesses and jobs at an astronomical rate:

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

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

More here:

http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001020

(Peer reviewed and published excerpts):

..report on the scope of relationships between these tax-exempt foundations and for-profit corporations including major food and pharmaceutical companies.

As another instance, which may reflect aligning interests (conflicts of interest), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has played a leading role in promoting anti-tobacco products and maintains Smoking Cessation Leadership Centers and programs, although its endowment is mainly invested in Johnson & Johnson, a leading manufacturer of cessation products, and some board members have been represented on both the Foundation and the company's boards.

Monday, April 11, 2011

J & J settles bribery case for $70 million

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2014725669_johnsonbribe09.html

excerpt:

The government accused J&J subsidiaries of providing money and travel gifts to doctors in Greece, Poland and Romania in exchange for their prescribing J&J products to patients. The SEC says J&J agents used fake contracts and sham companies to deliver the bribes. The SEC says the bribes began at least 13 years ago.

J&J subsidiaries also are suspected of paying kickbacks to the Iraqi government under Saddam Hussein to obtain contracts under the United Nations Oil for Food Program.

We at CTA can't say we are shocked.......but wonder when the justice department will investigate the $446+ million dollar grants ("bribes") that their agent and partner Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) provided to activist groups in exchange for promoting their alternative nicotine products like Nicoderm, Nicorette, Nicotrol etc.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/02/smoking-bans-good-public-policy-or.html

RWJF accomplishes the promotion of J & J pharmaceutical nicotine products by funding fraudulent data claiming that secondhand smoke is the deadliest substance know to mankind ("no safe level"), even though scientific and peer reviewed air quality testing proves that levels are 4 to 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA workplace air quality standards.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2010/10/air-quality-testing-of-secondhand-smoke.html

The resulting smoking bans promoted by Johnson & Johnson's partner RWJF have caused massive business closings and unprecedented worldwide unemployment.

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

Saturday, April 09, 2011

Indiana business owners and customers forced to make decisions on their own....without government help.....how will they survive?

http://www.dnj.com/article/B2/20110406/NEWS02/304060111/Proposed-Indiana-smoking-ban-defeated

(excerpt)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Once more Indiana has snuffed out an attempt to ban smoking in the workplace. A Senate committee Wednesday voted nearly unanimously to kill a bill that arrived from the House so watered down, not even the American Cancer Society would support it.

How will they survive?

Quite well of course.

Without a Nicoderm funded, government imposed smoking ban the hospitality businesses in Indiana will succeed, whereas states and localities with smoking bans have seen massive numbers of bar & restaurant closures:

3,382 UK pubs closed after nationwide smoking ban

South Dakota's smoking ban, just one month old, has already cost the state, charities, and local hospitality businesses millions of dollars in lost revenue

1,000-2,000 US bars & restaurants closed after various smoking bans were enacted

Nearly 500 Mpls / St. Paul bars & restaurants closed after smoking bans were enacted

Casino revenue losses in Colorado & Las Vegas after smokingbans

Washington State gambling revenues fall sharply due to ban

Trump & Atlantic City casinos lose significant revenue after smoking ban

Illionois smoking ban eliminates revenues in casinos

900 Pennsylvania bars and taverns have been reported closed since their smoking ban passed

NYC, which has a smoking ban, has a lengthy list of closed bars closed

-economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis have released analysis that says Illinois lost over $200 million in state and local revenue by placing the smoking ban on state-licensed casinos.

How will the customers survive?

By deciding for themselves if they'd like to visit smoking or non-smoking establishments....without government intervention.

How about the employees, aren't they being "killed" by secondhand smoke, as the Nicoderm funded "health" organizations continually tell us?

Let's see what air quality testing and OSHA (the authority on protecting employee health) has to say:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2010/10/air-quality-testing-of-secondhand-smoke.html

Air quality testing of secondhand smoke (link above) proves SHS is 4 to 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA workplace air quality regulations.

Free markets and freedom of choice....it's hard to see a downside in that.

Thursday, April 07, 2011

State supreme court to finally hear case of constitutionality (or not) of smoking ban

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge brought by a bar owner against the state's ban against smoking in workplaces, a court spokesman said Wednesday.

The owner of Zeno's Victorian Village, a tavern in Columbus that was cited for violations and fined $33,000, argues that the law overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2006 is unconstitutional.......More here.

The state Department of Health continues to believe the law is constitutional and will continue to enforce the ban that Ohioans wanted and approved, said spokeswoman Jen House.

She said the ban "protects Ohio's workers and Ohioans from exposure to dangerous secondhand smoke."

Actually OSHA regulations protect Ohio's workers and Ohioans from arbitrarily declared "dangerous levels" of secondhand smoke. And global air quality testing of secondhand smoke proves that it is 4 to 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA permissible exposure limits (PEL). Peer reviewed and published test results found online here:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2010/10/air-quality-testing-of-secondhand-smoke.html

Excerpts:

Multiple AQ test results from around the globe confirms secondhand smoke is NOT a health hazard:

This University of Washington study tested 20 Missouri smoking establishments and found that secondhand smoke levels in ALL 20 bars & restaurants tested ranged from 110 to 877 times SAFER than OSHA workplace air quality standards require.
http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2010/09/new-st-louis-aq-study-published-by.html

This Johns Hopkins University study tested Baltimore smoking establishments and found that secondhand smoke levels in ALL of the bars & restaurants tested ranged from 30 to 238 times SAFER than OSHA workplace air quality standards require.
http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/11/johns-hopkins-air-quality-testing-of.html

This British Medical Journal published study tested European smoking establishments and found that secondhand smoke levels in ALL of the bars & restaurants tested ranged from 4 to 5,000 times SAFER than OSHA workplace air quality standards require.
http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/04/bmj-published-air-quality-test-results.html

This American Cancer Society sponsored study tested Western New York smoking establishments and found that secondhand smoke levels in ALL of the bars & restaurants tested ranged from 532 to 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA workplace air quality standards require.
http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2004/04/american-cancer-society-test-results.html

This St. Louis Park, MN. Environmental Health Dept study tested 19 Minnesota smoking establishments and found that secondhand smoke levels in ALL 19 of the bars & restaurants tested ranged from 15 to 500 times SAFER than OSHA workplace air quality standards require.
http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/02/air-quality-testing-and-secondhand.html

WHO report on secondhand smoke
http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/03/british-medical-journal-who-conclude.html

***

How does secondhand smoke in the workplace compare to welding smoke in the workplace?

Welding smoke is far more hazardous than secondhand smoke. Yet air quality testing shows that welding smoke is regulated to safety standards by OSHA, so lawmakers allow OSHA do do its job rather than ban it.

Secondhand smoke on the other hand, though proven to be 4 – 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA workplace air quality regulations, requires government intervention according to Nicoderm funded activists and some lawmakers…….This double standard however, and the air quality testing above prove that a special interest agenda might be the real motive behind the demand for bans.

Otherwise, if health were the real concern we would show some consistency, either by allowing workplace (OSHA) air quality regulations in our bars and restaurants.......or by imposing a ban on all other potential workplace air quality hazards.

Full air quality test data and comparison to OSHA regulations CFR 29 found online here:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2010/10/air-quality-testing-of-secondhand-smoke.html

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Smoking ban LOBBYISTS should lose their tax exempt status

http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2011/04/ofallon_councilman_smoking_ban_jim_pepper.php

Excerpt:

..one O'Fallon city councilman is crying foul over the effort. He tells Daily RFT that he's strongly considering file a complaint with the IRS over both the American Cancer Society and Tobacco Free St. Louis, charging that the groups should lose their nonprofit status over their donations to Citizens for a Smoke-Free O'Fallon...The IRS holds that any 501(c)3 non-profit organization may devote only an "insubstantial" amount of its resources to lobbying efforts -- with a 20 percent limit for small groups and a sliding scale for larger ones.

Even more significant is that 501(c)3 non-profit organization Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has spent $446+ million funneling money to "non-profits" to lobby for smoking bans so that it does not appear that RWJF is lobbying themselves.

Why would RWJF lobby for smoking bans? RWJF is partner to Johnson & Johnson Company, maker of Nicoderm, Nicorette, Nicotrol, Commit, etc.....they're funding (lobbying) for smoking bans is to increase their personal stock portfolio. RWJF owns millions of shares of Johnson & Johnson stock.....when J & J makes money, RWJF makes money.....and as a 501(c)3, RWJF profits are tax exempt. More here:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/02/smoking-bans-good-public-policy-or.html

And make no mistake, smoking bans increase sales of pharmaceutical nicotine products as proven here:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/12/minnesota-smoking-ban-triples-demand-of.html

Sunday, April 03, 2011

Illinois House of Representatives votes to repeal smoking ban in casinos

http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/4566475-460/illinois-house-votes-to-lift-casino-smoking-ban.html

SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois House voted Tuesday to lift a smoking ban in all of the state’s casinos....
the smoking prohibition has cost the state $800 million in lost casino-tax revenues since the imposition of the ban and has caused East St. Louis, home of the Casino Queen, to lay off municipal workers....

A report by the General Assembly’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability characterized the indoor smoking ban as “the biggest contributor” behind a 28-percent decline in casino revenues since January 2008.

That 2010 report also noted casino revenues for Chicago-area casinos dropped by nearly 33 percent since the smoking ban was implemented, while gambling receipts for four neighboring Indiana border casinos fell only .4 percent during that same period.

Smoking bans have universally destroyed the gaming and hospitality industry around the globe:

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

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

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

The repeal of many more smoking bans is all but assured now that lawmakers are being informed about the dubious ties that smoking ban lobbyists have with pharmaceutical nicotine (Nicoderm) interests:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/02/smoking-bans-good-public-policy-or.html

Furthermore, air quality testing now being brought forth proves secondhand smoke is not the "deadly" substance Nicoderm, Nicorette, and RWJF funded activists portrayed it to be:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2010/10/air-quality-testing-of-secondhand-smoke.html