Clearing The Air

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Freedom makes a comeback as Nevada continues to reverse their statewide smoking ban

Bars & restaurants in Nevada have been decimated financially by their smoking ban, just as has happened in every other state.

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

But unlike every other state, Nevada lawmakers are smart enough to know how to eliminate the financial bloodbath by changing the smoking ban law to allow adults the freedom of choice:

http://www.rgj.com/article/20110617/NEWS07/110617027/Nevada-gov-OKs-bill-allowing-food-smoking-bars?odyssey=mod|mostcom

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Bar patrons will soon be able to enjoy a cigarette with their meal while eating out in Nevada.

Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval signed a measure Friday allowing food service in adults-only bars and taverns.

The law also allows smoking and eating within family restaurants if the smoking area is physically enclosed.

Previous changes made to reverse Nevada's smoking ban law:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2009/07/revenue-losses-from-las-vegas-smoking.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2009/04/nevada-senate-committee-approves.html

It's a stubborn and ignorant governing body who cannot admit they made a mistake and refuse to make changes to economy damaging (Nicoderm funded) legislation.....Nevada lawmakers do not fall into that category.

Update 2012: How has Vegas reacted since reversing smoking ban?

Nevada's jobless rate is down, to 12.7% as of January, from a high of 14% in October 2010. (The number of Nevadans out of work is hovering at around 175,000.) Taxable sales are up, and hourly wages have have increased slightly. And the big numbers are up, too, when 2011 is compared to the 2010. Visitor volume hit 38.9 million, just shy of 2007's record peak. Average room rates are up almost 11% to $105.11. Room nights occupied are up 5.3%, and gaming revenue is up 3.5%.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Addiction treatment facilities like the Betty Ford Clinic admit smoking bans are ineffectual

Full story here

excerpt:

Amethyst, compared 147 women admitted before the ban and 214 women treated after.

The center had a 70 percent success rate before the ban. That dropped to 42 percent by the end of the first three months under the ban. After the ban, patients stayed an average of 13 fewer days....

"That's the challenge, and it's juxtaposed against the importance of" getting people to quit, Gregoire said.

"We have studied and studied and studied this to death. We have voted and voted and voted again," said Jann Robinson, director of nursing and patient safety at the Betty Ford Center in California.

Even in a state that has been a front-runner in restricting smoking in this country, Betty Ford officials have yet to ban cigarettes on the grounds.

Reminder, it's corporate Nicoderm, Nicotrol, RWJF interests who promote and fund smoking ban efforts........ever wonder why?

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

Meanwhile, more here about the pharmaceutical nicotine greed and the damage done:

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

Monday, June 06, 2011

New study finds smoking bans DO NOT lead to reduced smoking rates

To see whether smoking bans might influence smokers to quit, the researchers looked at 350 medical practices and the number of prescriptions doctors wrote for smoking cessation medication before and after the law was enacted.

In the nine months preceding the ban, prescriptions for all the medications rose by 6.4 percent, the researchers found.

Nine months after the ban, however, prescriptions dropped by 6.4 percent, they report in the journal Addiction.

"It's frankly a little bit disappointing, but not surprising," said Dr. David Abrams, the executive director of the Steven A. Schroeder National Institute for Tobacco Research and Policy Studies at the anti-smoking organization Legacy.

Abrams, who was not involved in the study, said the impending ban likely motivated people who were already poised to quit.

Once the ban is in place, "maybe you've already skimmed the cream off the top of those who were already motivated to quit," and the rate of cessation activity returns to normal, Abrams said.

full story here

So before lawmakers fall for the Nicoderm funded lie that smoking bans reduce smoking rates, know the facts; the only thing smoking bans reduce is revenue in once profitable private bars & restaurants, leading to massive numbers of closed businesses and lost jobs.

more 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

Additionally air quality test results of secondhand smoke by Johns Hopkins University, the American Cancer Society, a Minnesota Environmental Health Department, and various researchers whose testing and report was peer reviewed and published in the esteemed British Medical Journal......prove that secondhand smoke is 2.6 - 25,000 times SAFER than occupational (OSHA) workplace regulations:

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/2010/10/air-quality-testing-of-secondhand-smoke.html

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

All nullify the argument that secondhand smoke is a workplace "health hazard".

Conversely, the effects of unnecessary, pharmaceutical nicotine funded, smoking ban laws have been profoundly detrimental:

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

Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Division of World Health Organization (WHO) finds cell phones are 'possibly carcinogenic to humans'

This story comes from the International Agency for Research on Cancer....The agency is the cancer arm of the World Health Organization and the assessment now goes to WHO and national health agencies for possible guidance on cellphone use.

Full story here

The criminal aspect of this story is the fact that W.H.O., the American Cancer Society, American Lung Association, and many other organizations who lobbied for smoking bans (because they were paid to do so by the makers of Nicoderm /RWJF) knew that the relative risk ratio of developing cancer from cell phone use was 3.0. Meanwhile the legislation they were paid to promote, smoking bans, had a far less hazardous relative risk ratio....the relative risk ratio of developing cancer from secondhand smoke is 1.3.

In fact both the World Health Organization and the American Cancer Society have clearly stated that relative risk ratios below 2.0 are too low to be relied upon. And a report by the independent health consulting firm Littlewood and Fennell characterized risk ratios (RR) less than 2.0 as “dancing on the tiny pinhead of statistical insignificance."

So developing cancer from cell phones is 2.3 times more likely than developing cancer from secondhand smoke.....yet nobody has called for a ban on cell phones. Which further highlights just how unnecessary smoking bans are......especially in light of the fact that smoking bans have decimated the hospitality industry and our economy. More here:

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

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

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2009/10/brain-tumor-victim-to-smoking-ban.html