Clearing The Air

Fifth Amendment compels government (and lobbyists who profit from rent seeking legislation, smoking bans) to compensate losses to individuals affected

2012-01-31T09:51:00.003-06:00

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

Smoking bans, enacted "for the public good", resulted in numerous takings (property losses) as evidenced here:

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

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/12/eviction-hearing-courtesy-of.html

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

Minnesota hits an ominous milestone: 500+ bars & restaurants closed since smoking bans were enacted

2012-01-25T10:40:00.003-06:00

Perhaps we should change the state slogan to: "Minnesota the land of 10,000+ unemployed hospitality workers."

List of closings can be found here:

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

And even though some very dubious Nicoderm / RWJF funded lobbyists told our politicians that smoking bans are good for business, just one year later a report from the Minnesota Auditor's Office proved that smoking bans DECREASED hospitality revenue by 31.9% on average.

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

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

Fighting the Nicoderm / RWJF special interests does and can have an affect

2012-01-23T13:19:00.002-06:00

As per information on a well known, tobacco control organization (Nicoderm / Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) funded) website:

On January 19, the American Lung Association released its 2012 State of Tobacco Control report grading the states and federal government on key tobacco control policies.
For the first time since 2001, no state passed a smokefree workplace law in 2011.
In 2011, only two states – Connecticut and Vermont – increased their cigarette taxes.

What's the societal cost of business closings due to smoking bans? Higher taxes paid by average citizens to make up for business tax revenue losses

2012-01-20T19:31:00.002-06:00

Something for taxpayers in smoking ban states to consider: Have you noticed that your property taxes continue to increase even as your property values decrease? Well, just because government over-regulation shut down thousands of bars & restaurants, eliminating millions even billions of dollars in local tax revenue, doesn't mean local government is going to do with less....guess who picks up the balance? You the taxpayer.

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

Related:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2009/10/minneapolis-mayor-rybak-and-city.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2009/07/lawmaker-learns-there-are-consequences.html

Laying the foundation for class action against interests like RWJF who provided funding to promote smoking bans simply to increase Nicoderm revenue

2012-01-19T12:25:00.002-06:00

While hundreds of thousands of people in the hospitality industry lost revenue, jobs and homes.

Sign the online petition to take part in this class action:

http://www.change.org/petitions/robert-wood-johnson-foundation-needs-to-compensate-people-businesses-harmed-by-special-interest-lobbying

Change.org|Start an Online Petition »

How is it possible for an inept and / or ethically challenged company like Johnson & Johnson to still be in business?

2012-01-10T18:55:00.003-06:00

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-10/j-j-sold-insulin-pumps-after-learning-of-defects-fda-says.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2010/05/anyone-else-believe-in-karma.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/05/johnson-johnsons-unethical-management.html

http://boycottjohnsonandjohnson.blogspot.com/

Smoking bans: good public policy? Or simply a great pharmaceutical marketing plan?

To the average non-smoker as I am, it might appear that the American Lung Association, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Non-Smoker's Rights, the American Medical Association, countless research Universities around the country, etc. are lobbying our politicians for smoking bans for health reasons.

However, upon some preliminary investigation it is clear that these NGO's are backed by $446,000,000.00 from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) which has direct ties to the Johnson & Johnson Company, and J & J is the manufacturer of Nicoderm & Nicoderm CQ.

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

Anybody who's lost a hospitality business or job in the last 10 yrs should sign this petition to force lobbyists (RWJF) who profited from smoking bans

2012-01-02T09:51:00.000-06:00

Laying the groundwork for class action against pharmaceutical marketing interests like RWJF who provided funding to promote smoking bans, simply to increase corporate revenue, as those in the hospitality industry lost revenue, jobs and homes.

To compensate those who lost businesses / jobs / revenues due to those Nicoderm, Nicorette, Nicotrol (RWJF) funded smoking bans...sign online petition below:

http://www.change.org/petitions/robert-wood-johnson-foundation-johnson-johnson-co-compensate-people-businesses-damaged-by-special-interest-lobbying

Happy New Year

2011-12-30T19:40:00.002-06:00

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2009/12/happy-new-yearbut-beware-of-secondhand.html

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from your freedom loving editor at Clearing the Air

2011-12-25T09:18:00.002-06:00

Muncie, IN. hearing exposes the lies by smoking ban lobbyists, & mulit-millions of dollars that Nicoderm / RWJF paid to foment those lies

2011-12-16T13:06:00.004-06:00

http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011112160330

Yesterday (12/15/11), Dr. John Dunn testified before a circuit judge in Indiana. He brought the Judicial Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence and a compilation of the studies (former Surgeon General) Carmona used and just how the risk ratios of secondhand smoke (1.3) would NOT stand up in a court of law, according to the Manual. The Judicial Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence requires a risk ratio of 2.0 before scientific evidence can be admitted as evidence of fact.

"Expert" for the State, Dr. Chaloupka just testified that he received close to $50,000,000.00 (in funding to promote issues such as how "deadly" secondhand smoke is) from RWJF.......He also testified that RWJF operated (profited) on their Johnson & Johnson stocks, and YES, they DO benefit from their sales of (Johnson & Johnson products) Nicoderm, Nicorette, Nicotrol.....

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

One of the major lies promoted by smoking ban lobbyists is that smoking bans are good for business, however, the facts below reveal the truth:

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

By the way, air quality testing of secondhand smoke conducted or sponsored by pro-smoking ban activists such as Johns Hopkins, the American Cancer Society, the University of Washington, an environmental health department, etc. some of which were published in the British Medical Journal, proves that SHS is 4 to 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA workplace air quality regulations; IE. NOT A WORKPLACE HEALTH HAZARD......that data is found at link below:

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

Smoking ban: definition update

2011-12-08T11:02:00.007-06:00

Smoking ban (Definition) elimination of big spending, late night, liquor consuming customers.

What is the impact of decreased liquor consumption in bars and restaurants?

To answer that question you first have to understand the fundamental facts about the hospitality business that bar / restaurant owners and managers know very well. Liquor products are marked up on average 300 to 500% over cost....IE. a very profitable component of any successful hospitality establishment. Food sales on the other hand net 10% perhaps 20% profit margin.....Result? If you cut 30%-50% of liquor sales (IE. ban tobacco using customers) then the hospitality industry will see massive significant reductions, business closures, resulting in higher unemployment.

Anyone claiming otherwise is trying to obfuscate the truth because of their conflicting financial agenda, (Pfizer finances new CDC study to try to prove smoking bans do not harm hospitality businesses because Pfizer manufactures Chantix, while RWJF / J & J fund smoking ban lobbyists around the globe to promote smoking bans because Johnson & Johnson manufactures or sells Nicoderm, Nicorette, Nicotrol, Commit alternative tobacco products.........At the links below, several thousand anecdotal examples reveal some very damaging, smoking ban impact, facts:

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

Recently it was discovered that The World Economic Forum in NYC was reading one of CTA's website postings

2011-11-19T14:54:00.003-06:00

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2005/07/why-is-pharmaceutical-company-funding.html

Within that story they'll find this link:

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

Soon economists from around the globe will realize that Johnson & Johnson by way of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has destroyed more jobs and world economies to further their own selfish financial interests than any other company / foundation in the history of the world.

If there is economic justice in this world, Johnson & Johnson / RWJF, will experience the same type of criminal scrutiny that Bernie Madoff did.

Presidential candidate Herman Cain's chief of staff caught promoting personal freedom & freedom of choice.........that's change we can count on

2011-10-26T21:01:00.007-05:00

Clearing the Air calls Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's bluff: If RWJF's mission is to help people, then provide grants to those harmed by RWJF policy

2011-09-02T17:57:00.008-05:00

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) claims to provide financial grants to non-governmental agencies in order to affect government policies that would help people and communities. The facts however, point to a foundation that funds policies which only serve to benefit RWJF and Johnson & Johnson companies bottom line profits (RWJF was founded by J & J founder Robert Wood Johnson and RWJF is still one of the largest shareholders of J & J stock). RWJF funds smoking ban lobbyists because parent company J & J manufactures alternative nicotine products such as Nicoderm. RWJF funds anti-obesity lobbyists because parent company J & J manufactures alternative sugar and surgical gastric bypass products such as Splenda and the Realize gastric band .

If however, RWJF were truly concerned about the health and welfare of people they would start by providing compensation to individuals whose livelihoods were destroyed by their (RWJF) self-serving policies.

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

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2005/07/why-is-pharmaceutical-company-funding.html

RWJF policies increased unemployment and home foreclosures across the globe.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/09/smoking-bans-increase-unemployment-rate.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/12/eviction-hearing-courtesy-of.html

Absent the rightly deserved recompense to individuals destroyed by Robert Wood Johnson Foundations political activities, their hollow claims of helping individuals are just that........hollow claims.

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

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

Update: During the Monday 9/12/11 GOP debate, candidate Michele Bachmann chastised Gov. Perry for implementing the HPV immunization law, based on the pharmaceutical (Merck) company's lobbying activities and grant money....The audience seemed to overwhelmingly agree with Bachmann.
Smoking bans are no different......Nicoderm maker J & J by way of its beneficiary, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), improperly and falsely influence lawmakers to implement smoking bans in a similar self-serving, marketing scam.

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

Smoking bans are as hazardous to your health as a 15-a-day cigarette habit

2011-07-31T22:25:00.004-05:00

New peer reviewed study here, says "social isolation, in the long term, is as damaging as a 15-a-day cigarette habit...."

And we know that smoking bans have eliminated thousands of establishments that people relied on for social interaction. With those aforementioned private establishments now closed, many tens of thousands of people find themselves in isolation where they would have otherwise (before smoking bans) gathered with friends and acquaintances for good times and comradery.

So it is ironic that the very government intervention which was supposed to save people from the hazards of tobacco "health issues" really did little more than swap one health hazard for another just as devastating.

Then again, if you follow the (Nicoderm / RWJF) money you'll realize that health wasn't the primary motive for promoting smoking bans afterall.

Peer reviewed and BMJ published secondhand smoke test results confirm there is NO workplace air quality hazard

2011-07-04T15:00:00.001-05:00

Click on link for data:

Peer reviewed and BMJ published secondhand smoke test results confirm there is NO workplace air quality hazard

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

2011-06-19T11:47:00.004-05:00

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.

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

2011-06-13T08:14:00.002-05:00

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

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

2011-06-06T22:32:00.004-05:00

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

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

2011-06-01T07:21:00.004-05:00

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

World Health Org (WHO) tries, too late, to hide the truth.....SHS lies are promoted by Nicoderm interests (disingenuous, conflict of interest)

2011-05-08T07:20:00.003-05:00

WHO warns anti-smoking campaigners not to become too close to drug firms

1. Aser García Rada

+ Author Affiliations

1. ¹Madrid

The World Health Organization has warned health professionals working in tobacco control not to become too closely involved with drug companies that produce smoking cessation products.

The warning came last month at a meeting on smoking prevention in Madrid that was hosted by the National Committee to Prevent Smoking, which represents most Spanish anti-tobacco organisations, and which was sponsored by Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and McNeil—all of which make treatments to help smoking cessation.

Armando Peruga, programme manager of WHO’s Tobacco Free Initiative, advised health professionals “to be independent and guided by scientific evidence.”

“We have to keep a distance from the tobacco industry, but we also have to maintain some distance from any other industry that can have a commercial interest in this issue,” he said.

But the truth is that pro-smoking ban lobbyists like the American Lung Association, American Cancer Society, Tobacco Free Kids, numerous colleges, universities, health departments, and even the American Medical Association have received nearly half a billion dollars to lobby for smoking bans by the maker(s) of Nicoderm, Nicotrol, Nicorette, Commit, etc. via J&J partner Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). Which makes the promotion of smoking bans a highly dubious, big business practice.

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

Smoking ban promoter Osama bin Laden killed in covert U.S. Navy Seal OP

2011-05-02T06:37:00.005-05:00

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/05/01/usama-bin-laden-dead-say-sources/

Obviously osama's intolerance, hatred, and killing of non-muslims (basic teaching of islam's founder....muhammad) was the significant reason for the nearly 20 year manhunt, however it should also be remembered that osama and al qaeda promoted and enforced a very unpopular smoking ban which caused some muslims to turn against al qaeda as explained in link below:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/09/al-qaeda-smoking-ban-is-one-of-reasons.html

Related:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/09/in-osama-bin-ladens-latest-rambling-he.html

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

2011-04-30T18:18:00.002-05:00

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

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

2011-04-17T18:52:00.004-05:00

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

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

2011-04-16T15:01:00.005-05:00

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).

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

2011-04-12T14:55:00.007-05:00

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.

J & J settles bribery case for $70 million

2011-04-11T05:26:00.003-05:00

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

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

2011-04-09T15:35:00.006-05:00

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.

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

2011-04-07T07:33:00.003-05:00

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

Smoking ban LOBBYISTS should lose their tax exempt status

2011-04-05T08:19:00.002-05:00

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

Illinois House of Representatives votes to repeal smoking ban in casinos

2011-04-03T16:22:00.003-05:00

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

Michigan bar owners plan to withold tax payments to protest smoking ban

2011-03-30T19:27:00.002-05:00

Gee, I thought smoking bans were good for business? Isn't that what the Nicoderm funded activists told all of us?

Pam Lezotte, owner of Buster's Place in Trenton, says people used to wait in line to enter her bar on Friday nights. But since Michigan's smoking ban took effect, she claims the place is often empty by eight.

As a result, she's having trouble paying her bills and is willing to take a bold step to get the attention of Michigan legislators who approved the state's workplace smoking ban, which took effect in May.

"What we're going to do is we want to take our taxes and put them in an escrow and say, hey, Lansing, it's time you guys step up and see what you're doing to this state and all the little business owners," Lezotte told Fox 2 on Tuesday. "They're folding every day. Every time I talk to a new bar owner, they're telling me … I'm on the edge. I'm on the edge of putting my bar on the market or I'm ready to walk away from it."

More here:

http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2011/03/bar_owners_plot_tax_protest_in.html

If it saves the life of just one cartoon character...it will be worth it

2011-03-15T07:45:00.003-05:00

Tobacco control activists are beside themselves, seething with anger....cartoon characters smoking in the new movie "Rango" .....oh the (animated un-) humanity of it all!

Don't those animated characters know how deadly secondhand smoke is? Why are there no smoking bans in fantasy land?

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/story/2011/03/PG-rated-Rango-has-anti-smoking-advocates-fuming-/44618190/1

Back in the real world though, air quality testing around the globe proves that activists lied about the "deadly hazards" of secondhand smoke.

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

We all pay the price.....

2011-03-10T05:21:00.003-06:00

Is a phrase used by local anti-tobacco group to try to make the claim that smokers cost society money. However, studies show that the extremely high taxes smokers pay for their habit more than offset any "societal costs" by a long shot. More facts here:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2005/12/do-smokers-cost-state-money.html

And this Dutch study proves those who live longer are actually a greater cost burden on society and our healthcare system:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/02/new-study-logically-proves-non-smokers.html

One thing the local anti-tobacco group aforementioned doesn't address in their "we all pay the price" phrase is the societal cost we all pay when their smoking bans destroy hospitality businesses and thereby reduce tax revenues to local governments. And we all pay the price for the massive unemployment caused when tens of thousands of bars & restaurants close after their smoking bans are enacted.

So ClearWay MN couldn't be more wrong, smokers more than pay the price for their habit, and if you all remember the S-CHIP program, which "insures the uninsured" by way of increased tobacco taxes, does so on the wallets of smokers. Therefore smokers pay their healthcare costs and the healthcare costs of non-smokers.

The price we all pay though is the price of increased taxes to offset the reduced tax revenue to local government when smoking bans destroy the hospitality industry.....and the cost to society of supporting massive new numbers of unemployed hospitality employees, vendors, suppliers etc.

In case you missed the embedded links above:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/08/city-of-st-paul-demands-tax-hike-for.html

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

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

Minnesota's MSA funded anti-tobacco group ClearWay MN is running new anti-tobacco ads

2011-03-08T07:19:00.002-06:00

CTA asks why is the new advertising necessary? Didn't smoking bans eliminate smoking and significantly reduce smoking rates? Apparently not, or the new ads wouldn't be necessary.

So ClearWay MN, American Cancer Society, American Lung Association, American Non-Smoker's Rights etc. destroyed the local bar & restaurant industry for nothing. (locally nearly 500 Minnesota bars & restaurants fired employees and went out business since smoking bans were enacted, globally tens of thousands of establishments have closed since smoking bans were imposed on private businesses).

Evidently governments and pseudo-health organizations see global destruction of small businesses and increased unemployment as a success.....no wonder the worldwide economy is on the brink.

.....ClearWay MN go ahead and roll out the next commercial, at least the marketing companies and media have seen an increase in business since smoking bans were enacted. (Incidentally, that's exactly what the Nicoderm funded activists told lawmakers and hospitality business owners.....smoking bans would "increase business") ......obviously, lying is an acceptable form of lobbying.....for Nicoderm funded smoking ban activists that is.

Links embedded above also listed below:

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

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

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/06/nicoderm-manufacturer-alza-is.html

American Cancer Society closes offices....why is that necessary after receiving $99+ million grants from RWJF (Nicoderm) to lobby for smoking bans?

2011-03-07T08:16:00.004-06:00

A drop in fundraising has forced the American Cancer Society to close its office in Terre Haute and put the building up for sale.

Spokesman Gary McMullen of the society's Great Lakes Division says the group has closed 10 offices in Michigan and Indiana because of declining fundraising revenues. Story here.

Ironically though, ACS as well as other "charitable" health organizations lobbied for smoking ban legislation after receiving $99,000,000.00+ from Nicoderm, Nicotrol, Nicorette interests at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). Apparently the Johnson & Johnson Company partner, RWJF, simply used ACS and other "non-profit" organizations to sell their alternative tobacco products......er, I mean, lobby for smoking bans; and once accomplished no longer provide financial support to these same "health" organizations.

It seems the American Cancer Society and other lobbyists are beginning to understand what the hospitality industry has been subjected to by smoking ban profiteers RWJF / J & J, maker of Nicoderm, Nicorette, Nicotrol products.

Time for (MSA) taxpayer funded ClearWay MN to be dissolved & its assets distributed to Minnesotans whose lives have been destroyed by smoking bans

2011-02-28T06:58:00.010-06:00

ClearWay MN 2010 annual report shows end of year assets of $110,793,337.00. Within their executive summary report to Ramsey County District Court they explain:

From inception through June 30, 2010, nearly $56.9 million has funded (smoking) cessation.....Through our QuitPlan programs....(by) June 2010, these programs had helped nearly 18,000 Minnesotans successfully quit....

At a taxpayer cost of $3,111.11 for each new ex-smoker..(remember MSA funds were awarded to state taxpayers to offset "tobacco related healthcare costs").....surely there are more cost effective ways for smokers to kick the habit that won't cost taxpayers a penny. But the outrageous measures that ClearWay MN uses to justify their gravy train existence, doesn't end there. ClearWay MN funded a "research" paper by Dr. Elizabeth Klein that claimed the smoking bans they funded and lobbied in favor of:

had no economic impact on bar business. Using state data on hospitality businesses, Dr. Klein found no significant change in employment for Twin Cities bars after their smoking bans took effect.

However, regular readers of CTA know that the Twin Cities area and surrounding Minnesota cities have seen a massive, unprecedented record number of hospitality closings (nearly 500 local closings by our detailed list) since smoking bans went into effect in the land of 10,000+ unemployed hospitality workers. So when we confronted Dr. Klein via email, her response showed an obvious "research" flaw:

"If you read the release, you'll note that our study used employment in hospitality businesses, not business closure. In addition, the research was conducted during 2003 to 2006."

So the study did not take into account the nearly 500 local hospitality closings and estimated 10,000 job losses after smoking bans were enacted here. But even more important, the study ended long before Minnesota's statewide smoking ban even went into effect. Therefore, this "study" cannot purport to measure the effect of smoking bans on hospitality employment....it was merely old, irrelevant propaganda pure and simple.

Hmmm....how many millions of dollars did ClearWay MN waste on that "study"?

In fact the Minnesota Auditor's Office filed a report in 2008 that showed one year after the statewide smoking ban went into effect, bars on average, lost 31.9% revenue.

CTA has over the years detailed the financial devastation to Minnesotans who've suffered job losses, foreclosure etc. by perhaps once well intentioned organizations. But in their zeal to lobby for self-serving legislation their bogus claim of "smoking bans are good for business" has proven not just to have been an outright lie, but a death sentence to hundreds of once profitable local businesses, and tens of thousands of livelihoods.

So once again, we appeal for the dissolution of ClearWay MN, and their massive coffers to be redistributed as recompense to those of us who've paid dearly for their gross negligence and disregard for the livelihood of others. As CTA proposed years earlier:

Saturday, December 23, 2006

if lawmakers are hellbent on enacting a statewide ban, then an amendment needs to be added to the law which sets aside a $100 million dollar fund to compensate for the business and job losses which result from a smoking ban.......that fund will be financed by the American Lung Association, American Cancer Society, MPAAT (ClearWay MN) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF is the pharmaceutical nicotine organization which funded most of the preceding groups, a rent seeking ploy designed to increase sales of their Nicoderm, Nicorette, Nicotrol product line).

Lawmakers and smoking ban activists who point to decreased cigarette sales as sign that smoking bans & tax increases work....should think again

2011-02-25T09:05:00.002-06:00

Fellow freedom activist Audrey Silk used to smoke Parliament brand cigarettes made in Virginia, now she smokes a very limited, exclusive vintage grown in Marine Park, NY......Silk brand tobacco, fresh out of her appropriately named garden...."Bloomberg gardens".

Ms. Silk would have spent more than $1,000 had she bought nine cartons in parts of New York City. Instead, she spent $240, mostly for the trays, the buckets and plant food.

Ms. Silk, 46, a retired police officer and the founder of New York City Clash (Citizens Lobbying Against Smoker Harassment), a smokers’ rights group, it is not just about the money. It is about the message. In the state with the highest cigarette taxes in the country, in a city that has become one of the hardest places in America to find a place to smoke, Ms. Silk has gone off the grid, growing, processing and smoking her own tax-free cigarettes from packets of seeds she buys online for about $2. She expects to produce a total of 45 cartons after planting two crops — the first in the summer of 2009, the second last summer — and estimates that she will have saved more than $5,000.

“It’ll make the antismokers apoplectic,” said Ms. Silk. “They’re using the power of taxation to coerce behavior. That’s not what taxation is supposed to be for.”

More at NY Times here.

Blowhardberg signs outdoor smoking ban. No doubt sea levels will recede, heavenly hosts will rejoice & unicorns will again frolic in Central Park

2011-02-23T06:00:00.003-06:00

“We can raise an entire generation of New Yorkers who are free from the dangers of nicotine addiction,” said Bloomberg, a former smoker, at the bill-signing ceremony Tuesday.

Except of course for the pharmaceutical nicotine products that he and his buddies at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) want New Yorkers (and all Americans) to be addicted to...Nicoderm, Nicotrol, Nicorette, Commit, etc.

RWJF profits from sales of alternative nicotine products when smoking bans are implemented...which is the reason RWJF has provided $446+ million to lobbyists who promote smoking bans......Bloomberg's reason???

You may note a tone of sarcasm from CTA, that's because outdoor smoking bans are so comical in that the "dangers" are non-existent. A few years ago the California Air Resource Board conducted air quality testing of secondhand smoke outdoors......the results? Outdoor secondhand smoke levels are 50,000 times SAFER than OSHA permissible exposure limits.

Flasback 2006: MSA funded anti-tobacco group ClearWay MN proves smoking bans eliminate business & jobs

2011-02-13T13:02:00.007-06:00

Reprint from CTA posting 11/2006

State funded anti-tobacco group proves that smoking bans eliminate business....will lawmakers heed the lesson

Minnesota Partnership for Action Against Tobacco (MPAAT) now ClearWay MN, proved that smoking bans eliminate on average nearly 40% of a private businesses' customers; with the most dramatic decrease in business of nearly 90%.

click to enlarge
"customers before" was count before smoking ban
"customers after" was count after smoking ban

Clearing the Air covered this story a few months back, but as more cities, counties, and states cave in to extortion-like tactics by the non-profit special interest smoking ban groups; it is important to remember the lessons that even the activists can't deny.

Update 2008: Minnesota Auditor's Office report finds that smoking ban decreased revenue 31.9% in bars and taverns just one year after smoking ban was implemented.

What's even more incredible is that air quality testing of secondhand smoke proves the "heath hazard" claim is a bold faced lie, and international hoax. Couple that with the new revelation by Dr. Siegel, that epidemiological studies which smoking ban activists' based their very existence upon were manipulated and/or fixed to support a pre-determined agenda, and you've got very sound reasoning why lawmakers should send the smoking ban charlatans not only packing, but making reparations to all the individuals and businesses harmed.

Update to Clearway MN study above: 3 years later we know for fact that ClearWay MN was correct, nearly 500 Minnesota bars and restaurants have closed since smoking bans were enacted in the land of 10,000 lakes.

26,000 Minnesotans lost their homes to foreclosure in 2010, local smoking ban restrictions contributed to it by way of business closures & job losses

2011-02-11T06:13:00.005-06:00

The 2010 foreclosure rate story is here.

No doubt this rate of foreclosure was exacerbated by the massive number of nearly 500 local bars & restaurants and approximately 12,000 jobs eliminated since smoking bans were enacted here.

More reading on the subject as CTA reported back in 1Q 2009:

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

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/12/eviction-hearing-courtesy-of.html

Flasback 2006: Pro-smoking ban lawmaker nullifies justification for smoking bans

2011-02-10T13:37:00.002-06:00

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/02/pro-smoking-ban-lawmaker-kills-his-own.html

Proof that lawmakers don't even believe the absurd health "hazard" claims the Nicoderm funded, anti-smoking activists are espousing.

At this video link you will find the MN. House smoking ban author Representative Doug Meslow, killing the legislation all by himself.

Rep. Meslow and pro-smoking ban lawmakers around the country claim they are enacting smoking ban legislation for the health of employees. However, at the video link above at time counter interval 6:05 - 8:38 you will see and hear representative Meslow offering amendment A17 to his smoking ban bill H405, which will: "...permit smoking in retail tobacco stores......"

Meslow goes on to justify this exemption by tripping all over his tongue with the ease and grace that only a politician can muster:

"......this bill is really about protection.....looking out for the health of employees and their exposure to secondhand smoke.....(however) individuals working in retail tobacco are people who are involved in that kind of business and process........these are people who are commonly already smoking on their own.....they don't have the same protection concerns....I don't have the same protection concerns for them......."

The above dialogue verbatim describes why bars and restaurants also need to be exempt from these abusive, unnecessary, draconian smoking ban measures. Bar and restaurant employees are also "...involved in that kind of business and process..." these individuals voluntarily chose the atmosphere they work in......And furthermore, 80% + of hospitality workers "...are people who are commonly already smoking on their own...."

As far as I'm concerned the only thing better than having a government Environmental Health Department prove secondhand smoke concentrations are 152 times safer than OHSA workplace permissible exposure limits, is having a pro-smoking ban politician exemplify the very reason why we don't need their unnecessary legislation to begin with.

More reasons to repeal smoking ban:

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

Smoking bans take the profit from legitimate businesses.....as the smoking and drinking continue at home

2011-02-06T09:55:00.005-06:00

THE days of being able to enjoy a cigarette and a drink at your favourite pub are a thing of the past.

But Michael Castle has rebelled against the smoking ban by setting up a bar at home where his family, friends and neighbours are free to light-up with gin and tonic in hand....

http://www.thisiscroydontoday.co.uk/news/Family-s-pub-home-beats-smoking-ban/article-3177839-detail/article.html

Proving once again that smoking bans are destructive to businesses and jobs in the hospitality industry:

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

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 400 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

-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.

Meanwhile, the bans do little, if anything, to actually reduce smoking rates:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2009/06/nationwide-smoking-ban-increases-total.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/12/ap-article-helps-explain-reason-smoking.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2010/12/tobacco-control-and-smoking-ban.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/04/j-js-rwjf-and-tobacco-control-groups.html

Smoking bans destroy businesses, jobs, and our economy.....

2011-01-14T08:00:00.008-06:00

The financial devastation due to smoking bans globally is well documented. Yet Nicoderm funded activists continue to push for more dubious, conflict of interest smoking ban laws. Even though it is glaringly obvious that what we really need is to repeal these onerous and unnecessary, pharmaceutical nicotine funded, special interest laws.

But if nanny-control activists strongly feel the need to impose their will upon others, Japan's smoking ban is one that makes much more sense than others:

Banning smoking on private properties but allowing it in public spaces is wrong both because it’s inefficient at reducing the harms of smoking and it’s offensive to the principles of a free society.

To see how wrong it is, consider Japan and in particular some precincts of Tokyo, where the law is the reverse of ours.

Tourists who visit Tokyo’s trendier districts are in for a surprise, especially given the Japanese have a reputation for smoking. Some streets are smoke-free but if you visit a bar, restaurant, or even hotel conference centre you are allowed to smoke.

The first argument relates to efficiency. If we assume there will continue to be smoking somewhere, and the ultimate test of a free society is its tolerance of all decisions both good and bad, it will be less harmful if done on private property. Apart from the fact that people can more easily choose to avoid private places than public ones, the owners of private places directly harvest all of the benefits of maintenance and improvements made. It is more likely that a private property owner will maintain and improve the property to reduce smoking harm.

more here:
http://www.troymedia.com/2011/01/13/japans-smoking-law-is-the-reverse-of-canadas-and-smarter/

(Ventilation equipment is allowed in the industrial workplace to remove welding smoke, why not in the hospitality workplace to remove tobacco smoke? The fact that Nicoderm, Nicorette, Nicotrol, money via RWJF is used to finance smoking ban lobbyists is the likely reason......it's all about making money not concern for health)

Effect of New Jersey smoking ban 4 years later? Casino and gaming revenue down 31%

2011-01-12T06:03:00.006-06:00

Associated Press (link)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — In just four years, the nation's second-largest gambling market has lost nearly a third of its business.

Year-end figures released Monday show Atlantic City's casinos took in $3.6 billion in 2010, down from $5.2 billion in 2006, a decline of nearly 31 percent. The yearly decline was 9.6 percent, marking the fourth year in a row that New Jersey's casinos took in less than the year before.

What happened 4 years ago which preceded the rapid revenue decline? New Jersey enacted their smoking ban.....4 years ago ...(Atlantic City casino exemptions were only temporary according to this article).

Color us shocked. Everywhere enacted, smoking bans have decimated businesses and jobs, even though Nicoderm funded liars, er um, lobbyists like the American Lung Association, Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, American Cancer Society, etc. told lawmakers and the public that "smoking bans are good for business".

Incidentally, a Minnesota Auditor's Office report found that the MN state smoking ban decreased revenue 31.9% in the hospitality / entertainment industry.......coincidence? ......we think not.

Flashback: How the media, journalists, and universities; funded and directed by Nicoderm, Nicorette, & Nicotrol money; get smoking bans enacted

2011-01-08T10:52:00.004-06:00

CTA first uncovered this $2.3 million Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Nicoderm) grant back in 2005. We then had an opportunity to ask its recipient the goal of the funding, the doctor provided the insight we expected. Namely, rent seeking, corrupt legislation we know as smoking bans were the ultimate agenda of Johnson & Johnson Company's political division RWJF, product marketing scheme. Force governments to ban the use of their competitor's product .....cigarettes, which would then increase the use and sale of their products.....Nicoderm, Nicorette, Nicotrol, Commit, etc.; and it works (tripling demand).......as long as lawmakers remain ignorant of the facts.

Of course media interests which rely on advertising revenue from heavyweights like Johnson & Johnson Company are not about to kill the goose that lays the "golden" egg by reporting the facts. Sales of Nicoderm, Nicorette, Nicotrol, Commit, etc. exceed $500,000,000.00 annually, just in the U.S. alone (not including Walmart sales). The cost however, to small businesses and jobs is staggering.

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

Illinois lawmaker's proposal highlights the real problem with todays government leaders.....lack of common sense and critical thinking

2011-01-04T07:46:00.003-06:00

http://www.mysuburbanlife.com/clarendonhills/statenews/x1599389678/Changes-expected-in-gambling-expansion-proposal

Try thinking with some common sense for just a second. Your current riverboat casino revenue is down, which shows that they're operating under capacity IE. fewer visitors, fewer gamblers. Adding new riverboats and a new Chicago casino, which will also operate under capacity , while adding significant capital expenditure, IS NOT the answer......it's a recipe for more government debt.

What is the answer? Repeal the unnecessary smoking ban......if revenue doesn't come rebounding back....then let your economy damaging legislation (smoking ban) stand. However, in every locale around the globe, smoking bans have decimated the gaming and hospitality industry, reversing this onerous law WILL reverse the revenue losses.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/04/casino-revenues-in-colorado-nevada-and.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/08/washington-state-smoking-ban-is-only-9.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2007/08/trump-casinos-experience-financial.html

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/29455559.html

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

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

Furthermore, air quality testing around the globe proves that secondhand smoke is 4 to 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA workplace permissible exposure limits:

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

Therefore secondhand smoke IS NOT a workplace health hazard.......it is however a hazard to the Nicoderm funded lobbyists and alternative nicotine manufacturer (Johnson & Johnson /RWJF) who convinced (deceived) lawmakers to enact these corrupt smoking ban laws.

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

Is this still America?

2011-01-01T10:53:00.002-06:00

This is not America

New Year's Eve party-goers in Michigan plan to kick off the New Year with a show of freedom

2010-12-29T20:11:00.013-06:00

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20101229/NEWS01/12290341/Some-Michigan-bars-may-allow-smoking-New-Year-s-Eve-in-protest

Some Michigan bar owners plan to protest the state's eight-month-old smoking ban by allowing party-goers to light up Friday after 9 p.m.
_____________________________________________________

On another front, the statements below are poised to become signage for Michigan hospitality businesses fighting for their financial survival:

"If its not your business, then its not your business".

***

"A smokers right to smoke does end at your nose -- but your right to complain ends at the front door of the private property you just walked onto".

***

"A bar is not a library. A tavern is not a park. A pub is not a sidewalk. This is not a public place!"

PRIVATE PROPERTY

You're very welcome to come in -- but we make the rules.
***

Update on the prosperity that freedom brings:

....just got a text message from a server who I've known .... for years... it was a picture of them at their server station this evening, with lit cigarettes in their mouths and cash in their hands (y'know, the playah picture) that said: "Hi, Tell everyone at your group we said THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU"... The best, ....3 of the 4 of them don't smoke.!!!

The protest, as the news comes in to me via email, text and calls is this may be bigger than we thought. Many who had no intention to take part are all turning a blind eye. The above was an enormous small victory.

Happy New Year everyone!

St. Paul City council member Dave Thune claims to be concerned about local retail outlet, Macy's, remaining in downtown St. Paul

2010-12-28T06:24:00.006-06:00

However, in reality; Minnesota smoking ban activist Dave Thune helped eliminate 430+ local hospitality businesses taking with them approximately 10,000 local jobs......Thune does not have a pro-business / pro-jobs track record.

Sign written on Mike's Bar St. Paul, MN. explains cause of closure.

St. Paul Works Overtime To Keep Macy's Beyond 2012 (link to KSTP story)

In 2001, the city gave Macy's a 6.3-million dollar loan, in exchange, Macy's promised to stay downtown through 2012. City officials tell 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that the St. Paul Macy's store is making money and that the city will continue to talk with the retail downtown anchor to make sure everything stays that way.

Council member, Dave Thune, represents the downtown district. He told us that the city will be hard pressed to make a similar offer to Macy's, but that it is imperative the city do all it can to make sure Macy's remains a business fixture downtown.

My advice to Macy's.......run. Thune and St. Paul city council members have proven themselves to be anti-business, over-regulatory thugs....let them collapse from within and hopefully voters will wake up next election.

How has Dave Thune's smoking ban law affected St. Paul and surrounding businesses? His behavioral control, arbitrary smoking ban law was the catalyst causing an avalanche of local bar & restaurant closings.....430+ and counting.

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

Meanwhile, workplace secondhand smoke "hazard" (and subsequesnt smoking bans) are an unjustifiable double standard......welding smoke, regulated by OSHA in the workplace, is just fine.....and legal.

Ohio Dept of Health takes page from Obama admin playbook "smoking ban has saved or created 186 lives..."

2010-12-15T07:50:00.002-06:00

Story here:

http://newstalkradiowhio.com/localnews/2010/11/health-district-state-smoking.html

Of course just like Obama's lame attempt to justify another trillion dollars in wasted stimulus spending.....ODH has no way to verify this outrageous claim. We, on the other hand, CAN and DO verify the damages and massive number of job losses due to smoking ban legislation:

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

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

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

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

Then they came for me and by that time no one was left to speak up....

2010-12-13T19:38:00.004-06:00

They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

"First they came…" is a famous statement attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group....

Of course the modern incarnation in society today would start:

They came first for the smokers, (by enacting smoking bans)
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a smoker.

Then they tried to limit calorie intake, by banning foi gras, sodium, sugar, fat.....and Happy Meals which easily became law because by that time no one was left to speak up.

The sad fact remains though, that the only reason any of these bans occur today is because corporate special interests fund the pro-ban lobbyists for their own rent seeking, profit motive which typically is a lucrative pharmaceutical product, meant to replace the inexpensive consumer product now banned. IE. Johnson & Johnson manufactures Splenda, in order to increase demand for this expensive sugar substitute, J & J's partner Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) provides hundreds of millions of dollars to lobbyists who promote bans and tax increases on soda drinks at schools etc.

Similarly, Johnson & Johnson manufactures Nicoderm, Nicorette, Nicotrol, etc. in order to increase demand for these expensive pharmaceutical nicotine substitutes, J & J's partner, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), provides hundreds of millions of dollars to lobbyists who promote government enforced smoking bans.

Am I saying that the special interest, pro-ban lobbyist groups are Nazi's?.....you'd have to admit the similarities are eerily familiar.

Latest Surgeon General's report ..."just saying the word 'cigarette' causes brain cancer, incontinence and anal leakage"

2010-12-09T21:07:00.008-06:00

Smoking bans destroyed businesses and eliminated jobs but even so, the number of smokers has remained relatively unchanged......So what's an irrational, truth challenged tobacco control movement to do?...........Spread even more outrageous lies in hopes of selling more pharmaceutical nicotine products as an alternative to cigarettes.

Plus, the Nicoderm (RWJF) funded smoking ban activists just lost their court battle to have the FDA ban e-cigarettes, the new SG announcement was a pathetic attempt to remain relevant in the media.

In other news, smokers banned from looking at cigarettes; story here.

South Dakota's smoking ban (1 month old) is already causing significant revenue losses for the state, taxpayers, and businesses

2010-12-06T21:47:00.004-06:00

CTA visited South Dakota on numerous occasions to warn them of the financial, business, and job losses that would occur if the latest incarnation of their statewide smoking ban was enacted, so I won't say I told you so......I'll let the local South Dakota media tell you the story instead:

http://www.keloland.com/News/NewsDetail6371.cfm?Id=107959

Excerpt:

South Dakota's cash cow is drying up. The state's share of Video lottery is down almost 20 percent since the statewide smoking ban took affect last month. Bar owners say they've seen a drop in business and fear it's only going to get worse.
Bar and casino owners were betting there'd be a loss in revenue if voters passed a statewide smoking ban and according to one bar owner, it's happening. ..."Everybody is down, I've heard numbers anywhere from 10% to 52%, every bar's a little different in what they are down," Don Rose owner of Shenanigans Pub. ..Rose says he knows of a handful of casinos across the state that are either closed or about to close, and points to the statewide smoking ban as the reason. .."This is the strictest ban in the country....."

Mr. Rose, I know what the American Lung Association, Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, American Cancer Society, etc. would say, "Stop being an ingrate, you may soon be poor and out of work, but at least you'll have your health; thanks to our new smoking ban.......and we have $200+ million in lobbying fees from Nicoderm corporate interests at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF)." It's an all too familiar ending everywhere smoking bans have been enacted.

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

Tobacco control and smoking ban activists cost taxpayers & local governments hundreds of millions of $$ in losses

2010-12-05T16:50:00.005-06:00

Black Market Cigarettes Cost New York $20 million a month.

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2010/11/26/black-market-cigarettes-cost-new-york-m-month/

While smoking ban activists cost taxpayers hundreds of millions (perhaps billions) of $$ in lost tax revenue due to losses from their anti-business policies:

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

Ireland passed a business crippling nationwide smoking ban a couple years ago, now they're seeking a financial bailout, coincidence? We think not

2010-11-22T07:20:00.004-06:00

The financial hardships caused by smoking bans around the globe are well documented:

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

Today's headline is about one smoking ban afflicted nation's plea for financial assistance:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/22/business/global/22debt.html?_r=2&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a2

Hey Ireland, you should pay attention to what your neighbors in the U.K. did to try to stem the tide of massive pub closings, circle jerk themselves into more debt:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2010/03/smoking-ban-lessons-learned-typical.html

75% of Michigan hospitality owners surveyed report smoking ban has caused a decrease in revenue

2010-11-21T12:13:00.007-06:00

Lance Binoniemi, executive director of the Michigan Licensed Beverage Association, said 75 percent of 450 member bars and restaurants surveyed statewide reported a dip in profits in May, June and July, compared with the same period in 2009.

The group has about 2,500 members overall.

Most respondents attributed the sales decline to customers who pack up their smokes and go elsewhere, Binoniemi said.

The association surveyed the businesses in August following the smoking ban affecting restaurants, bars and workplaces.

Full story here:

http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20101121/NEWS02/11210506/1001/news/Michigan-smoking-ban-hurts-business--group-says

Here in Minnesota we already knew that the smoking ban lobbyists, who were funded $446+ million by Nicoderm interests at RWJF, lied to lawmakers and the public when they claimed smoking bans were good for business......as we've already seen approximately 450 MN bars & restaurants close since smoking bans were enacted in the land of 10,000 unemployed hospitality workers.

Around the world the story remains the same, smoking bans eliminate revenue and jobs at a record pace:

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

Meanwhile profits increase for the Nicoderm interests (RWJF) who funded the smoking ban laws. Economists call this modus operandi rent seeking legislation:

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

Additional Michigan news, charitable gaming revenue negatively impacted by smoking ban:

http://www.freep.com/article/20101127/NEWS06/11270373/1318/Some-charities-feeling-burned-by-smoking-ban

Congratulations America for taking the first steps to Righting the ship

2010-11-03T07:25:00.006-05:00

And a reminder to the newly elected Republican majorities out there......Republicans stand for free market choices and property rights.......NOT smoking bans. And when you understand that smoking ban lobbyists are funded by alternative pharmaceutical nicotine interests, and smoking bans negatively impact economies, the message is clear........smoking ban lobbyists are NOT TRUSTWORTHY but rather paid spokespersons for the Nicoderm, Nicorette, Nicotrol, Commit, drug companies......don't give these activists (once reputable, charitable organizations ALA, ACS, AMA, CTFK, etc.) the rent seeking time of day, they lost the title "reputable" once they provided false testimony about secondhand smoke in exchange for multi-million dollar funding from Nicoderm, Nicorette interests at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).

Additional reading:

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

Netherlands reverses their 2 year old smoking ban after owners complain of "plummeting profits"

2010-11-03T05:30:00.001-05:00

From Reuters comes this November 3, 2010 news:

The new Dutch government has scrapped a smoking ban for small bars and cafes, reversing a public health measure introduced two years ago by the previous administration.

Health Minister Edith Schippers said Wednesday in a letter to parliament the move "gives consumers more choice".

Small cafe owners complained bitterly after the ban became official in July 2008, saying it sent their profits plummeting.

Schippers said the government will lift the ban immediately.

More here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39992553/ns/world_news-europe/

South Dakota vote for freedom of choice, vote NO on Referred Law 12

2010-11-02T07:25:00.005-05:00

Referred Law 12 is another special interest attempt to strip away freedoms from South Dakotans........vote NO.

As a resident of Minnesota the smoking ban has destroyed businesses (closing 420+ bars & restaurants), and eliminated approximately 15,000 jobs here.

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

New report from Minnesota Auditor's Office proves REVENUES DECREASED by an average of 31.9% in bar and tavern businesses after smoking bans were enacted.

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

Even as air quality testing proves secondhand smoke IS NOT a workplace health hazard:

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

Say yes to freedom by voting NO on REFERRED LAW 12

Update: Find election results by precinct online here.

(Congratulations to Bennett, Buffalo, Dewey, Harding, Jackson, Mellette, Shannon, Todd, & Ziebach counties for standing up for freedom by voting against the Nicoderm funded, smoking ban marketing ploy)

South Dakota American Cancer Society disputes the fact that 417 MN bars & restaurants closed since smoking bans were enacted

2010-10-15T05:45:00.007-05:00

Actually their dispute seems to be that the list of 417 closings includes 26 Starbucks that closed in and around the Twin Cities after the statewide ban was enacted. Well to set the record straight, many of the Starbucks in MN went smoke-free voluntarily before the statewide smoking ban. Logically then, much of their success was that they (and a couple other non-smoking establishments) had cornered the small smoke-free niche market, but once every other establishment was forced to ban smoking.....Starbuck's no longer had the corner on that smoke-free business.

The other indisputable fact is that Minnesota's smoking bans took effect prior to our economic downturn, subsequently the avalanche of smoking ban affected hospitality closings also started at a time when our economy was booming; so economic downturn had nothing to do with Minnesota bar & restaurant closings. (In 2004, the last year without a ban only 14 MN establishments closed. As a side note, in 2005 there were approximately 1200 liquor licensed establishments in the Minneapolis / St. Paul area, so 417 closings represents the loss of 1/3 of Twin Cities establishments.)

Furthermore, a review of Minnesota's smoking ban law shows lawmakers knew the ban would destroy jobs....see language inserted into bill:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/08/review-of-minnesota-smoking-ban-law.html

excerpt:

"Dislocated worker"
(4) has been permanently separated from employment in a restaurant, bar, or lawful gambling organization from October 1, 2007, to October 1, 2009, due to the implementation of any state law prohibiting smoking;

Sec. 13. DISLOCATED WORKER PROGRAM; ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.
The Job Skills Partnership Board must enable the dislocated worker program under Minnesota Statutes, section 116L.17, to provide services under that program to employees of bars, restaurants, and lawful gambling organizations who become unemployed from October 1, 2007, to October 1, 2009, due to the provisions of this act.

(see "review" link above)

Additional note, "studies" that showed "no financial impact" from smoking bans have repeatedly been discredited, such as this recent university "study"

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2010/07/clearway-mn-dusts-off-old-study-which.html

And these economic impact of smoking ban studies:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/09/mpaat-now-known-as-clearway-minnesota.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/03/minneapolis-revenue-numbers-for-bars.html

http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/04/economic-impact-bars-restaurants-opinions-contributors-smoking-ban.html

http://www.scribd.com/doc/8426223/Pakko

Update: State of Minnesota Auditor's Office finally comes clean, one year after smoking ban; revenues are down 31.9% on average:

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

Minnesota releases revenue numbers that verify what we've already known.....smoking bans destroy the hospitality industry

2010-10-14T22:28:00.005-05:00

http://www.osa.state.mn.us/Reports/gid/2008/liquor/liquor_08_report.pdf

(Excerpt page 7)
This report provides comparative data on municipal liquor operations owned and operated by Minnesota cities.1 In 2008, 212 Minnesota cities operated 242 municipal liquor stores, with 120 cities operating both on-sale and off-sale liquor establishments and 92 cities restricting their municipally-owned establishments to off-sale liquor stores. While the majority of municipally owned liquor stores are located in Greater Minnesota, 19 cities within the 7-County Metro Area (Metro Area) own and operate liquor establishments.

(Excerpt page 9)
Among on-sale operations, net profits totaled $1.9 million in 2008, which was a decrease of $913,333, or 31.9 percent, from 2007. (On-sale means bar operated by a municipality)

Total net profits for off-sale operations totaled $18.5 million in 2008, which was a decrease of $1.1 million, or 5.6 percent, from 2007 (pg. 7). (Off-sale means liquor store operated by a municipality)

What happened in Minnesota in 2007?.......You guessed it the statewide smoking ban. Municipal Minnesota bars lost 31.9% revenue one year after the smoking ban passed, yet municipal liquor stores; which are unaffected by the ban; only lost 5.6% revenue. Finally Minnesota state auditors report the truth......though you can rest assured they had no idea that their data would be used to verify what most of us have always known......smoking bans destroy business and jobs......period.

Minnesota auditor's report proves the "Freedom to Breathe" Act was a complete failure and only serves to eliminate business and jobs while fulfilling special interests' agenda.

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

Have you checked the latest "benefits" of the smoking ban in Minnesota yet? Nearly 420 closed bars & restaurants (15,000+ jobs lost) thanks to Dems

2010-10-11T21:22:00.008-05:00

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

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2005/11/updated-hennepin-ramsey-hospitality.html

See which MN lawmakers voted to eliminate choice and jobs (vote link) here in MN.

Here's a spoiler alert for you.....liberal lawmakers, called DFL here in MN, voted approximately 85-95% in favor of unnecessary, government imposed, smoking bans....Republicans voted approximately 85-95% in favor of PRIVATE hospitality owners making their own business decisions....see vote link above. (in fact the MN Republican party platform included a plank to oppose property rights destroying smoking bans see section 7 paragraph S)

So you can see why Clearing the Air strongly opposes the ignorant anti-business, anti-jobs policies of the Democrat party.....vote Republican this election.....your job may depend upon it.

Air quality testing of secondhand smoke in bars & restaurants and how the results compare to OSHA air quality standards

2010-10-10T21:02:00.010-05:00

OSHA itself has stated regarding secondhand smoke:

"Field studies of environmental tobacco smoke indicate that under normal conditions, the components in tobacco smoke are diluted below existing Permissible Exposure Levels (PELS.) as referenced in the Air Contaminant Standard (29 CFR 1910.1000)...It would be very rare to find a workplace with so much smoking that any individual PEL would be exceeded."

-Letter From Greg Watchman, Acting Ass't Sec'y, OSHA, To Leroy J Pletten, PHD, July 8, 1997

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 15 – 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.

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?

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/12/here-is-research-study-which-pro.html

US Supreme Court sides with Native Americans and against special interest nanny activists

2010-10-06T07:46:00.002-05:00

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2010/10/supreme_court_sides_with_cayug.html

The Cayuga Indian Nation today won another court victory in its bid to continue selling tax-free cigarettes at its LakeSide Trading stores in Union Springs and Seneca Falls.

Anyone who follows the smoking ban / anti-tobacco issue knows the real impetus to increase tobacco taxes and ban tobacco use comes from special interest activists who receive funding from the pharmaceutical nicotine industry. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's (RWJF) true motive for funding laws which discourage tobacco use comes from the fact that they are part of the Johnson & Johnson conglomerate which owns, sells or manufactures Nicoderm, Nicorette, Nicotrol, Commit, etc.....not exactly an unbiased and upstanding motive.

New St. Louis AQ study published by Washington University proves once again shs is not a workplace health hazard

2010-09-10T13:14:00.015-05:00

The test results prove secondhand smoke levels in St. Louis MO. establishments tested are 110 to 877 times SAFER than OSHA workplace air quality requirements.

(See test result document at bottom of page)

Airborne nicotine levels ranged from 0.015 to 25.14 ug/m3. The median (interquartile range) airborne nicotine levels in venues that allowed smoking was 2.83 μg/m3 (0.57-4.56 μg/m3)

The information that interests us are the AQ test results of airborne nicotine in the smoking venues 0.57 to 4.56 (micrograms) ug/m3

Why do experts measure the trace chemical nicotine in secondhand smoke?

Nicotine is the only unique or "trace" chemical in secondhand smoke. If you measured for formaldehyde, the carpet and other interior sources of formaldehyde would corrupt the test result, formaldehyde is formed naturally in our atmosphere due to photochemical oxidation. Benzene is given off from burning foods in the kitchen or diesel exhaust outdoors so again a false reading would be obtained. Therefore, nicotine is the ideal chemical to measure to determine secondhand smoke concentrations in the air. And then our comparison to OSHA guidelines is the logical manner in which to determine if secondhand smoke levels pose a health hazard, as you can see, according to OSHA, the authority on workplace safety, they do not. If you wanted you could measure every airborne chemical in secondhand smoke and then compare them to OSHA guidelines for each specific chemical, the results would be the same, if not more dramatic.

The OSHA permissible exposure limit for nicotine is 0.5 (milligrams) mg/m3 or 500 (micrograms) ug/m3, (full OSHA table can be found here) so now let's do the math:

500 (OSHA safe level) divided by 0.57 = shs levels are 877.19 times SAFER than OHSA permissible exposure limits

500 (OSHA safe level) divided by median 2.83 = shs levels are 176.68 times SAFER than OHSA permissible exposure limits

500 (OSHA safe level) divided by 4.56 = shs levels are 109.65 times SAFER than OHSA permissible exposure limits

None of the secondhand smoke air quality readings represent a workplace health hazard as you can see above.

And the test results by Washington U are very similar to all the AQ testing conducted globally in recent years.

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

Thank you Washington University for proving our point once again.....secondhand smoke is not a workplace health hazard, and doesn't require government legislation. Especially in light of the fact that smoking bans eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs:

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

Final note, the paper's first sentence claims "there is no known safe level of secondhand smoke exposure", obviously that is a false statement as we've just demonstrated above.

(click to enlarge)

Because we at CTA take sides, against Democrats who overwhelmingly support economy damaging policies like smoking bans

2010-08-25T08:21:00.003-05:00

http://problemwitheconomy.blogspot.com/2010/08/america-rising-november-2010.html

South Dakota has freedom on the ballot in November

2010-08-05T22:49:00.007-05:00

http://www.citizensforindividualfreedom.com/index.html

Remember SD vote NO on Referred Law 12 expanding the smoking ban (SD already has a statewide smoking ban). We in Minnesota have a restrictive smoking ban which caused the closure of 400+ bars & restaurants and eliminated approximately 10,000 jobs.

Don't be fooled by the Nicoderm funded lobbyists who forced this issue on South Dakota......Vote NO on Law 12 if you value Freedom, and let business owners decide what's best for them and their customers.

Obamacare, just one example why voters should reject any and all Democrats on November ballot

2010-08-04T09:34:00.003-05:00

(click to enlarge)

Democrat politicians love massive government bureaucracies, massive government spending......in fact the only thing they love more is confiscating your tax dollars to pay for these wasteful programs. Below is a chart showing the U.S. national debt to gross domestic product ratio over the last 70 years. Notice what happened after 2006, which is when Democrat lawmakers took over the United States House and Senate........debt dangerously escalated in a near vertical, reckless spending spree.

There has never been a more obvious time in American history to vote Republican in all November elections.......couple that with the fact that Democrat politicians were the overwhelming supporters and yes votes on smoking ban issues and you can see why Clearing the Air strongly opposes the ignorant anti-business, anti-jobs policies of the Democrat party.

400+ Minnesota bars & restaurants closed, eliminating approximately 10,000 jobs since smoking bans were enacted in the land of 10,000 lakes

2010-07-23T22:31:00.005-05:00

List of 410+ closed local establishments available online here:

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

Liberals, the media, and RWJF / Nicoderm funded smoking ban activists are quick to claim that the closings are due to the economy......well then if that's true we should have seen 400+ grocery store closings, 400+ gas station closings, 400+ mall closings, etc. etc. locally during the same 4-5 year time span.......but we haven't. Smoking bans were the unnecessary government intrusion responsible for these massive unprecedented record number of hospitality closings in Minnesota.

Nor was Minnesota the only negatively affected economy from smoking bans.

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

Epidemiologists warn that falsified claims of secondhand smoke being a hazard makes a mockery of their science

2010-07-15T21:55:00.006-05:00

"......call for papers about threats to epidemiology or epidemiologists from organized political interests.....all were about threats from anti-tobacco activists....suggest a willingness of influential anti-tobacco activists, including academics, to hurt legitimate scientists and turn epidemiology into junk science in order to further their agendas....."

Story online here:

http://www.epi-perspectives.com/content/4/1/13

As proof that pro-smoking ban activists ignored sound scientific evidence in order to get their Nicoderm (RWJF) funded agenda implemented, 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/2006/02/air-quality-testing-and-secondhand.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

Additionally, a World Health Organization (WHO) study, and analysis of former Surgeon General Carmona's "report" indicate that exaggerations and lies about secondhand smoke was the real pandemic of SHS.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2004/03/who-report-passive-smoking-doesnt-cause.html

Federal government addicted to alcohol, tobaaco, and firearms

2010-07-15T06:45:00.003-05:00

Federal government tax revenue on alcohol, tobacco and firearms were up 41% to $20.6 billion in 2009. Good thing the Supreme court ruled once and for all in favor of the 2nd Amendment which gives all Americans the right to own firearms. Accordingly, smoking bans are being relaxed around the globe.....and as government tries to close budget gaps look for more smoking bans to be retooled and / or completely repealed. Afterall, smokers don't cost society money.....they contribute hefty taxes into society. And a recent study found that it's individuals who live a long life who are more of a cost burden to our healthcare system than smokers.

More here:

The U.S. federal government collected $20.6 billion in taxes on alcohol, tobacco, firearms and ammunition in fiscal year 2009, up 41 percent from the previous fiscal year, according to the annual report of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.

Part of the U.S. Treasury Department, the TTB credited most of the $6 billion rise in revenues collected to the increased taxes on the tobacco industry

http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-50132620100714

George Will on Prohibition: "In the fight between law and appetite, bet on appetite"

2010-07-10T15:14:00.003-05:00

Now that ambitious government is again hell-bent on improving Americans -- from how they use salt to what light bulbs they use -- Okrent's book is a timely tutorial on the law of unintended consequences.....Before the 18th Amendment could make drink illegal, the 16th Amendment had to make the income tax legal. It was needed because by 1910 alcohol taxes were 30 percent of federal revenue.

Similarly, as tax revenue from tobacco sales decrease (if the smoking ban activists claims come to fruition) look for liberal lawmakers to impose new taxes to make up for tobacco tax losses. The other true constant is that smoking bans cause business closures and massive job losses.

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

The rest of George Will's article on Prohibition can be found here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/07/AR2010070703558.html

Follow-up: Wisconsin candidate for Governor Neumann would repeal smoking ban in favor of economic freedom:

http://www.wrn.com/2010/07/neumann-wants-to-undo-smoking-ban/

OSHA air quality is the proper standard to compare indoor air quality test methods, EPA PM 2.5 or vague RSP testing applies only to outdoor air

2010-07-07T06:58:00.010-05:00

As I've stated many times, indoor air quality is always worse than outdoor air quality.....so for smoking ban activists to impose EPA air quality standards (PM 2.5 or RSP (respirable suspended particles)) which only apply to outdoor air is not only unattainable, but fraudulent.

We need to insist that OSHA permissible exposure limits, which regulates indoor workplace air quality, is the standard by which any indoor air quality testing is compared......it's how we conduct air quality testing in any other workplace setting. As an indoor air quality engineer, no customer has ever come to me saying the EPA measured their interior plant air, and they're in violation of PM 2.5, or exceeds recommended RSP's......OSHA is the governing authority on indoor air quality, not the EPA.

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/2006/02/air-quality-testing-and-secondhand.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

Additionally, a World Health Organization (WHO) study, and analysis of former Surgeon General Carmona's "report" indicate that exaggerations and lies about secondhand smoke was the real pandemic of SHS.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2004/03/who-report-passive-smoking-doesnt-cause.html

ClearWay MN dusts off an old "study" which tried to claim no employment harm due to smoking bans in Minnesota

2010-07-03T12:24:00.006-05:00

ClearWay MN has strong-armed nearly every media outlet into re-publishing this old 2009 "study" precisely because it misleads, exaggerates, and quite frankly lies about the facts.

www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/640770.html

scienceblog.com/35882/bars-restaurants-see-no-significant-employment-change-under-smoking-bans-in-2-cities/

blogs.citypages.com/food/2010/07/minnesota_smoki.php

Contrary to this "ClearWay MN study's" findings however, smoking bans in the land of 10,000 lakes were the catalyst which so far has produced 400+ hospitality closings in Minneapolis / St. Paul and surrounding Minnesota area (anyone who claims that closing 1/3 the total number of liquor licensed hospitality establishments in the Twin Cities didn't eliminate jobs is smoking something):

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

How could their findings be so contrary to the truth you ask? Well the study's author Liz Klein clears that up in her emailed response to me last year:

"If you read the release, you'll note that our study used employment in hospitality businesses, not business closure. In addition, the research was conducted during 2003 to 2006."

So the answer is the study did not take into account the 399+ hospitality closings and estimated 10,000 job losses after smoking bans were enacted here. But even more important, the study ended long before Minnesota's statewide smoking ban even went into effect which was 2007. Therefore, this "study" cannot purport to measure the effect of smoking bans on hospitality employment....it was merely old, irrelevant propaganda pure and simple.

(Note: 3-4 years before Minnesota's statewide smoking ban Minneapolis, St. Paul, Bloomington, Hennepin, and Ramsey counties had smoking bans in place. More than half the state's population resides in those Twin Cities regions, so any "study" which claims that MN hospitality revenues were already in decline prior to our statewide smoking ban isn't telling you about one very key point.....the Twin Cities already had smoking bans in place; and those numerous local smoking bans led to numerous hospitality closing and revenue losses before the statewide smoking ban.)

Even Minnesota lawmakers who wrote the smoking ban law knew their actions would eliminate jobs.....here is actual text inserted into the bill:

c) "Dislocated worker" means an individual who is a resident of Minnesota at the time employment ceased or was working in the state at the time employment ceased and:

(4) has been permanently separated from employment in a restaurant, bar, or lawful gambling organization from October 1, 2007, to October 1, 2009, due to the implementation of any state law prohibiting smoking;

Sec. 13. DISLOCATED WORKER PROGRAM; ALLOCATION OF FUNDS......more here:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/08/review-of-minnesota-smoking-ban-law.html

By the way ClearWay MN; formerly MPAAT; (which funded this 5/18/09 study) conducted their own survey in 2006 that showed bans eliminated up to 80% of the customers in 7 out of 10 bars and restaurants after smoking bans were enacted. (see links below)

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/09/mpaat-now-known-as-clearway-minnesota.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/11/state-funded-anti-tobacco-group-proves.html

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/09/minnesota-parnership-for-action.html

Supreme Court denies Obama admin attempt to extort an additional $280 billion from tobacco industry

2010-06-30T07:53:00.007-05:00

The appeal was signed by Elena Kagan, the solicitor general, a couple of months before President Barack Obama nominated her to the Supreme Court

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2012227435_apussupremecourttobaccocase.html

Oops.....tough timing there Hussein Obama. If you're still looking to sue someone under the RICO Act though, how about the tobacco control movement?......they're heavily financed by pharmaceutical nicotine interests (Nicoderm, Nicorette, etc.) RWJF in excess of $450 million......that's a racketeering scam just waiting for a lawsuit.

Case here:
http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/04/should-department-of-justice-and.html

Unfortunately, since RWJF has a revolving back door into the White House with their good liberal buddy Hussein Obama...a RICO investigation into RWJF and the damage to our economy due to their rent seeking legislation is highly unlikely until the next administration.

Check out the White House visitor's list under "L" for "LAVIZZOMOUREY RISA", president of RWJF.

In other Supreme Court news:

The World’s most Short-lived Smoking Ban

2010-06-29T20:48:00.003-05:00

Bulgaria has been one of the most popular tourist destinations for many years due to moderate prices and lack or restrictions. However, things were about to change for smoking tourists as Bulgarian government adopted a strict ban on smoking in public places. However, it is just a beginning of the story which caught the headlines across the European Union.

Still, just three days after the implementation of the comprehensive nationwide ban on smoking in public places approved by the previous parliament, on June 4 it was officially canceled.

More here:

http://www.tobacco-facts.net/2010/06/world-most-short-lived-smoking-ban

It's a dark time in American history when East Europeans understand and yearn for freedom more readily than we do. Then again....the more likely scenario is that America's been punk'd by Nicoderm, Nicorette corporate interests.

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2010/06/americayouve-been-punkdsecondhand-smoke.html

Las Vegas, Nevada......coming to their free market senses?

2010-06-18T07:54:00.004-05:00

Proposal would allow food service in restaurant bars that allow smoking (link)

And if NV lawmakers need irrefutable scientific proof that secondhand is not a workplace health hazard per OSHA standards they can find that information here:

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......proving 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/2006/02/air-quality-testing-and-secondhand.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

America......you've been punk'd.....secondhand smoke is not a deadly hazard

2010-06-14T07:52:00.004-05:00

http://yourdoctorsorders.com/2009/01/the-myth-of-second-hand-smoke/

At the behest of Congressman Henry Waxman (D-Ca), the Congressional Research Service (CRS) spent two years examining reports and came up with the following conclusions regarding second hand smoke and lung cancer (Redhead and Rowberg, 1995):

(a) The statistical evidence does not appear to support a conclusion that there are substantial health effects of passive smoking.
(b) It is possible that very few or even no deaths can be attributed to second hand smoke.
(c) If there are any lung cancer deaths from second hand smoke, they are likely to be concentrated among those subjected to the highest exposure levels (e.g., spouses).
(d) The absolute risk, even to those with the greatest exposure levels, is uncertain.

The scandalous smoking ban legislation and lies about secondhand smoke were financed by the pharmaceutical nicotine industry which depends upon perpetuating those lies in order to continue making a profit. They accomplish this by funding smoking ban lobbyists' activity to eliminate cigarette use and force taxpayers to subsidize sales of their Nicoderm, Nicotrol, Nicorette, Commit, etc. thru Quitline programs.

More here:

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

The crime in this rent seeking legislation scam is that smoking bans have forced thousands of hospitality businesses to close, eliminating hundreds of thousands of jobs prior to the '08, '09 economic crisis.

More here:

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

New Harvard study 'accidentally' confirms conservative ideology

2010-06-10T09:04:00.003-05:00

Government interference and government spending kills business investment and jobs.

Story link here.

Those of us affected by government imposed smoking bans already know this lesson all too well.

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

This Memorial Day

2010-05-31T14:10:00.007-05:00

Remember to thank the brave U.S. military personnel who fight for our freedoms.....then in November, vote out the liberal (Democrat) politicians who legislate to take away our freedoms.

Reprint from Oct-2008: Smoking bans: the air quality facts, economic effects, and special interest motives

2010-05-25T07:22:00.003-05:00

We're told that secondhand smoke is hazardous, should we just believe the rhetoric without looking at air quality test results? Numerous groups conducted testing for a reason, why then are they now silent about the results of this air quality testing? Air quality testing, I might add, that was conducted by groups who have a pro-smoking ban bias.

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

My job involves engineering and selling industrial air filtration systems which are designed to remove process emissions. Process emissions like welding smoke for example which factory employees are exposed to all day every day. Typically what happens is that a disgruntled employee makes a call to OSHA to report that the welding smoke level seems high, so it must be dangerous. This scenario happens relatively often in the real world, oddly enough OSHA's response isn't to ban welding smoke in the alleged facility or have lawmakers pass sweeping welding smoke bans in the workplace, rather; its response is to conduct air quality testing to determine if welding smoke levels pose a hazard in that particular facility.

OSHA doesn't have a permissible exposure limit or PEL for "welding smoke" as a whole because welding smoke contains hundreds of hazardous components too long to list here. Components like hexavalent chromium, beryllium, lead, nickel, arsenic, asbestos, etc. But OSHA does have a permissible exposure limit (PEL) for the individual components of welding smoke. So OSHA conducts air quality testing on the individual airborne components, if the results come in lower, or safer than its set PEL, the facility is given an acceptable bill of health and allowed to conduct business as usual. If testing yields results which exceed current OSHA PELs it doesn't ban welding, rather it allows the facility to improve its air quality by upgrading its ventilation or filtration system. OSHA PELs are the safe acceptable level of exposure to humans for an 8 hour day, 40 hour per week time period.

So now let's get back to secondhand smoke…..OSHA also has a pel for each and every one of the "hazardous" components of secondhand smoke. The five AQ test results above prove that secondhand smoke levels are 2.6 – 25,000 times SAFER than occupational (OSHA) workplace regulations. In other words, not a workplace health hazard.

People have called me a smoker's rights advocate, however as a non-smoker it's more accurate to call me a property rights, and jobs rights advocate. Whether pro-smoking ban activists admit it or not smoking bans eliminate businesses and jobs at an alarming rate, 258+ bars and restaurants and approximately 10,000 jobs in the Twin Cities have been eliminated since local smoking bans went into effect.

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

The air quality facts are clear, secondhand smoke is not a deadly hazard which requires government intervention. Primarily because OSHA already has established safe permissible exposure levels (PEL) for all the components of secondhand smoke.

We've proven that secondhand smoke is not a workplace health hazard, so why do activist groups lobby for smoking ban laws? The pro-smoking ban lobby consists of the American Lung Association, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, The American Medical Association, American Non-Smoker's Rights Foundation, the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and others, all of whom have been well compensated by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in excess of $446+ million to lobby in favor of smoking bans. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is the political wing of the Johnson & Johnson Company, which manufactures Nicoderm, Nicoderm CQ via their wholly owned subsidiary ALZA, and now profit from sales of Nicotrol, Nicorette, and Commit since the Pfizer buyout. (RWJF owns $5.4 billion in J & J stock)

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

(if you're asking yourself why a pharmaceutical nicotine manufacturer would want lawmakers to ban tobacco nicotine use, you're apparently too naive to understand; but the marketing department at Johnson & Johnson understands)

Lawmakers and the public should weigh the facts thoroughly before imposing well intentioned, yet business damaging smoking ban laws. Smoking bans closed 3,300+ pubs in the U.K., 300+ establishments in Ohio, 400+ bars & restaurants in Minnesota....just to name a few; eliminating tens perhaps hundreds of thousands of jobs. (see link at bottom of post).

Look closely at the groups which fund and pursue a legislative "solution", you will find that their motives and agenda are less than forthcoming.

Updated information here:

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

Anyone else believe in karma?

2010-05-15T10:42:00.003-05:00

CTA has written incessantly about Johnson & Johnson's unfair and unethical business practice of using their private foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), to fund and promote smoking bans (even if they have to provide exaggerated and fraudulent data on secondhand smoke) in order to increase sales of Nicoderm, Nicorette, Nicotrol etc. a practice more commonly referred to as rent seeking legislation.

The result of J & J / RWJF's for profit, smoking ban crusade is massive revenue losses imposed upon the hospitality industry, followed by massive job losses for people who rely on the hospitality industry for their livelihood.

So when Johnson & Johnson becomes the target of another corporate scandal, it's hard to have even a shred of sympathy......more here:

'Shocking' conditions at Tylenol plant

The return of freedom, and smaller, fiscally responsible, MN government is one step closer

2010-05-02T11:45:00.010-05:00

Rep. Tom Emmer wins GOP endorsement for Governor of Minnesota

Democrats have led congress since 2006, their legacy of big government and big government spending has put America on the brink of bankruptcy. It's time for free market, limited government conservatives to take over. Democrat over-regulation and high taxes do not create jobs it kills them along with business. The progressive, liberal, economically ignorant, Haight/Ashbury hippies had their run of the country for 4 years......and they ran it into the ground.

It's time for Republicans like Tom Emmer to restore America.

Emmer leads in early statewide Governor's race polling

Liberal, nanny statists display their ignorance by calling for a ban on water

2010-04-01T07:56:00.006-05:00

In an effort to show how ridiculous and unsubstantiated the claims are by pro-ban lobbyists, John Stossel takes to the streets informing citizens that thousands of people die every year from dihydrogen monoxide; "..we need to ban this hazardous substance".......the sheeple are only too eager to sign his petition.

We can't find video of Stossel's petition drive, but Penn & Teller's video to ban dihydrogen monoxide 3 years ago can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi3erdgVVTw

Dihydrogen Monoxide, or DHMO, is a colorless and odorless chemical that kills or maims thousands each year, primarily through accidental inhalation.

How can you help? Contact your local lawmakers and inform them about this hazardous killer http://www.dhmo.org/

Along the same line as above, exposing pro-ban hysterics based on exaggerated or phony "science"; I found an old 2005 post by local columnist Craig Westover........enjoy:

http://craigwestover.blogspot.com/2005/09/should-minnesota-ban-new-car-sales.html

Americans enraged by Democratic government (and RWJF lobbied) takeover of our private healthcare system can demonstrate their anger with their wallet

2010-03-24T07:15:00.011-05:00

Stop spending money on any and all Johnson & Johnson products Tylenol, Bandaid, Nicoderm, etc. (SC Johnson (cleaning product manufacturer) is not related to the J & J pharmaceutical and medical device conglomerate)

RWJF is the private foundation of the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturer. In a misguided, rent seeking legislative effort, RWJF has been lobbying for government healthcare in the U.S for over 30 years.

RWJF STRATEGY

For more than 30 years, RWJF has been concerned about Americans' lack of access to affordable and stable health care coverage. RWJF has funded studies, demonstration projects and symposia about this problem.

In 1997, Congress funded the State Children's Health Insurance Program with the aim of providing health insurance coverage to children who were not eligible for private or public insurance programs. That same year, RWJF created Covering Kids® (see Grant Results). In 2001, RWJF reshaped the program and renamed it Covering Kids & Families®, reflecting the Foundation's commitment to help states also cover parents and other adults who work in jobs that do not provide health coverage for them or their children.

Through a series of State Coverage Initiatives, RWJF assisted states in developing and implementing policies that made health care insurance more available and affordable to low-income residents. RWJF also created State Solutions: An Initiative to Improve Enrollment in Medicare Savings Programs, a national program to maximize enrollment in Medicaid, Medicare and other health insurance programs. Communities in Charge: Financing and Delivering Health Care to the Uninsured is a national program to help cities or counties improve access to care for low-income, uninsured individuals by changing the organization and financing of local care delivery (see Grant Results). The Access Project began work to improve health and health care in 1998 (see Grant Results).

RWJF also has supported other efforts to enhance Americans' access to health care coverage, including:

Understanding costs and financing mechanisms through Changes in Health Care Financing and Organization (for more information see Grant Results).
Analyzing proposals to expand coverage through the Economic & Social Research Institute's Covering America project.
Helping states plan and develop insurance market reforms to expand health coverage for the uninsured through State Initiatives in Health Care Reform.
Increasing awareness among policy-makers and action by the general public through Cover the Uninsured Week

The motive of course is to increase market share, placement, and sales of J & J products in a newly mandated government healthcare system which also gives the IRS unprecedented control of every Americans financial information including bank accounts, records, and history. And RWJF president Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, has been a regular White House lobbyist / visitor to the Obama White House throughout the healthcare debate. This modus operandi is nothing new to regular CTA readers, RWJF funded smoking ban lobbyists in an effort to ban tobacco nicotine use, because parent company J & J manufactures and sells Nicoderm, Nicotrol, Nicorette, Commit, etc. A rent seeking ploy which successfully tripled demand for the aforementioned pharmaceutical nicotine products according to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, once government imposed smoking bans were enacted.

So until Obama's new big government healthcare program is ruled unconstitutional or repealed, use your wallet to punish the lobbying groups like RWJF / J & J Company responsible for getting us into this massive new socialist-style, financially unsustainable, government program.

RWJF financial holdings include but not limited to 80,499,208 and 86,853,208 shares of Johnson & Johnson Common Stock in 2003 and 2002, respectively. This information is found on page 8 of 2004 financials for Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. At today's Johnson & Johnson price per share 67.36, that's just a shade over $5.4 billion dollars.

Update: Obama's new socialist healthcare bill seems to also be a flimsy excuse to increase taxes on everything and anything, related or not. A new 10% tax on indoor tanning salons starts today.

If property rights advocates battling smoking bans forward only one CTA article to lawmakers this should be the one

2010-03-20T10:04:00.000-05:00

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2008/10/smoking-bans-air-quality-facts-economic.html

Smoking ban lessons learned & typical government ineptitude......Circle jerk themselves and taxpayers into bankruptcy

2010-03-18T10:10:00.009-05:00

Anatomy of a progressive government movement: Enact government over-regulation on businesses (in this case smoking bans), then as the onerous and unnecessary government regulation destroys those businesses & jobs; throw more taxpayer money at the problem they previously created.

For regular pubgoers, it could be the investment of a lifetime. The public are to be given cash and advice on how to invest and buy pubs as part of a package of measures designed to stem the wave of closures.....The initiative has been prompted by the closure of around 40 pubs each week, resulting in losses of jobs and millions of pounds from the economy....In a 2008 report on community pubs, the group found pub takings had been hit by...... heavy regulation, such as the smoking ban.

As a reminder to readers, over 3,300 UK pubs have gone out of business since lawmakers enacted smoking bans across the pond.

Rest of the story is online here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/18/investors-offered-cash-buy-pubs

What makes this entire circle jerk even more troubling is that smoking ban lobbyists ALA, CTFK, AMA, etc were funded by the pharmaceutical nicotine industry via (RWJF) whose real motive was to increase Nicoderm, Nicotrol, Nicorette, etc. product sales by making it illegal to smoke tobacco products in the pubs. If anyone should pay for the losses incurred as a result of the rent seeking legislation it ought to be the lobbyist (non-profit) groups as well as their benefactor Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and Johnson & Johnson Co. as parent entity of RWJF and manufacturer / owner of the now artificially demanded pharmaceutical nicotine products.

Lawmakers who are stupid enough to write laws that financially benefit one industry or company over another should also be personally responsible for providing (financial) recompense to those that lose business or jobs as a result of the rent seeking laws passed.......but the industry or company (RWJF / J & J) which funded and benefited from the immoral legislation should provide the majority financial contribution.

Around the globe smoking bans have decimated an entire industry eliminating tens of thousands of businesses, hundreds of thousands of jobs; which eventually impacts other industries and jobs until the negative worldwide effect snowballs into what we are currently experiencing.

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

....Who wouldn't want these same bumbling idiot bureaucrats running our healthcare system?

CTA editor warned Iowa lawmakers they were being lied to by smoking ban advocates, now 1 year later the truth is being exposed

2010-03-04T13:17:00.006-06:00

One year ago Iowa smoking ban advocates, funded by Nicoderm sales, told lawmakers the blatant lie that smoking bans are good for business. Ignorant and unconcerned lawmakers either believed that lie, or felt obligated to return favors for the campaign funding provided by the non-profits now lobbying for anti-business initiatives (smoking bans).

One Iowa bar owner tells his story here:

After a decade in business, the Nest Bar and Grill in Johnston is empty.
The owner, Rich Marx, said the smoking ban drove him out of business."We just celebrated our 10 year anniversary last Wednesday and then shut the doors three days later," Marx said.
He said former customers who used to smoke at the Nest are now smoking at home with a 6-pack or visiting a casino.
"Since the smoking ban went into effect July 1, we've lost just over 40 percent of our business," he said.
That made paying the bills impossible.

online here:
http://www.kcci.com/news/17984101/detail.html

The Nest isn't the only bar taking a hit.
The Iowa Restaurant Association said members who catered mainly to smokers are down this earnings quarter.
However, government numbers show gains in the hospitality industry. Iowa Workforce Development shows 2,400 more jobs in hospitality this month than last year at this time.
Likewise, bar and restaurant earnings are up 1.5 percent.Iowa Department of Revenue public information officer Renee Mulvey said bar losses could be getting lost in restaurant gains.
"That's very possible that's happening," Mulvey said.

"...bar losses could be getting lost in restaurant gains....." CTA can verify that's exactly what is happening, and it's happening around the globe to intentionally hide the loss of businesses and jobs from smoking ban legislation. Here in Minnesota government economists used hotel room revenue data in their report in an effort to hide the revenue losses to the hospitality industry after smoking bans were enacted.

Smoking bans HAVE NEVER increased revenue or jobs in the hospitality industry. They have however, increased revenues for the manufacturer of Nicoderm, Nicotrol, Nicorette, Commit etc.....which is exactly why they continue to fund the non-profit activists to push the smoking ban agenda.

Poll shows majority of Americans see government control as clear and present danger

2010-02-27T11:41:00.003-06:00

Fifty-six percent of Americans say the government poses an immediate threat to individual rights and freedoms.

http://tinyurl.com/yl4twg6

Obama admin and pharmaceutical funded (RICO guilty) anti-tobacco activists target the tobacco industry....again

2010-02-19T19:26:00.004-06:00

This article discusses the tobacco industry's request to have an unfavorable and questionable ruling dismissed.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/company-news/big-tobacco-obama-administration-duels-in-supreme-court/19366023/

Banzhaf (executive director of the group Action on Smoking and Health) says he doesn't think the industry's arguments hold merit. "The great majority of RICO cases don't involve organized crime like the Mafia, but rather involve businesses that engage in fraud and deception....

Businesses that engage in fraud & deception? Like when alternative nicotine (Nicoderm) manufacturer Johnson & Johnson company uses its private foundation Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to covertly fund anti-tobacco groups and anti-tobacco legislation (smoking bans) in order to get laws passed which increase J & J (Nicoderm, Nicotrol, Nicorette, Commit, etc.) product sales?

If the tobacco industry is guilty of RICO charges, then so is the pharmaceutical nicotine industry and the anti-tobacco groups funded by them; groups like Banzhaf which have benefitted from RWJF support. To date RWJF has funded anti-tobacco groups $446+ million, as lawmakers are deceived about the source of those lobbying funds.

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

http://scottymt.blogspot.com/2010/02/nicotine-replacement-patented-morality.html

Quintessential argument against smoking bans

2010-02-12T07:46:00.003-06:00

If your local government is legislating secondhand smoke because they claim secondhand smoke is a WORKPLACE health hazard.......shouldn't they consult with the authority on workplace health hazards? –OSHA

And in fact air quality testing of secondhand smoke results compared to OSHA permissible exposure limits proves there is no health hazard. Results found SHS is 2.6 - 25,000 times SAFER than OSHA workplace regulations.

Secondhand smoke air quality test results here:

http://cleanairquality.blogspot.com/2006/11/is-secondhand-smoke-health-hazard.html

OSHA itself has stated regarding secondhand smoke:

"Field studies of environmental tobacco smoke indicate that under normal conditions, the components in tobacco smoke are diluted below existing Permissible Exposure Levels (PELS.) as referenced in the Air Contaminant Standard (29 CFR 1910.1000)...It would be very rare to find a workplace with so much smoking that any individual PEL would be exceeded."

Want to quit smoking?....new study says skip the Nicoderm

2010-02-10T08:08:00.002-06:00

Despite the over-promotion of nicotine replacement therapies by drug companies and anti-tobacco activists, the most successful method used by ex-smokers is unassisted cessation, according to a new policy forum in PLoS Medicine. In the article, researchers from the School of Public Health at the University of Sydney, Australia take a critical look at most tobacco control campaigns, which emphasize that serious attempts at quitting smoking must be pharmacologically or professionally mediated.

More here:

http://www.scientificblogging.com/news_articles/most_smokers_quit_cold_turkey_researchers_say

As far as CTA is concerned, that's how this editor quit smoking nearly 30 years ago. But our real reason for promoting cold turkey is to make sure the pharmaceutical interests that funded smoking ban legislation, RWJF (J&J) do not profit from the economy damaging results.

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

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

Don't forget Valentine's Day

2010-02-10T07:30:00.003-06:00

More great GOP Valentine cards here:

http://www.gopvalentine.com/?e=politics-unit@foxnews.com

Remember, conservative lawmakers are less likely than Democrats to vote for business crippling smoking ban laws.

"Man-made global warming" hoaxsters learn from "secondhand smoke kills" activist liars

2010-01-26T11:58:00.006-06:00

The bogus "science" of man-made global warming has common thread with groups that promote the bogus "science" that secondhand smoke kills.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/01/25/de-jour-gate-flavor-amazon/#more-15658

Excerpt:

...not content with having lied to us about shrinking glaciers, increasing hurricanes, and rising sea levels, the IPCC’s latest assessment report also told us a complete load of porkies about the danger posed by climate change to the Amazon rainforest....

.....It gets even better. The two expert authors of the WWF report so casually cited by the IPCC as part of its, ahem, “robust” “peer-reviewed” process weren’t even Amazon specialists. One, Dr PF Moore, is a policy analyst....And the lead author Andy Rowell is a freelance journalist (for the Guardian, natch) and green activist:
Andy Rowell is a freelance writer and Investigative journalist with over 12 years’ experience on environmental, food, health and globalization issues. Rowell has undertaken cutting-edge investigations for, amongst others, Action on Smoking and Health, The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids...

Global warming hoaxsters learned from smoking ban activists that repeating lies while claiming "peer reviewed" studies is a multi-billion dollar profitable scam that few would question.

The profit in smoking bans finds its way to companies like Johnson & Johnson which manufactures Nicoderm, Nicoderm CQ, and owns Nicotrol, Nicorette, Commit, etc. To that end, J & J's partner, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), has provided $446 million+ to groups like Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (ASH is signing member), AMA, ALA, ACS, AHA, etc. to lobby lawmakers for implementation of smoking bans. More here:

http://www.pr-inside.com/international-tobacco-control-corruption-exposed-r1291951.htm

Meanwhile, the profit in promoting man-made global warming comes from government grants, carbon tax credits, etc. etc. These massive profits make it very worthwhile to continue promoting the scam.....but isn't that the very same reasoning a common criminal uses to justify his/her nefarious livelihood?

CTA is not a sports blog......but we're always a fan of any team that defeats the NY Jets

2010-01-24T17:16:00.002-06:00

In case you don't know the reason, it has to do with the owner of the Jets franchise.....Robert Wood Johnson.....and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's (RWJF) role in eliminating businesses and jobs around the globe.

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

FDA warns Johnson & Johnson (J & J) over their alleged hazardous drugs and kickback bribes

2010-01-17T09:43:00.003-06:00

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-15/j-j-gets-u-s-fda-warning-on-delayed-report-of-tainted-tylenol.html

Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent a warning letter to Johnson & Johnson, saying the drugmaker waited more than a year to notify regulators after getting complaints that tainted bottles of Tylenol sickened customers.

The medicines may have been tainted by a pesticide and flame retardant applied to wooden shipping pallets, the company said in a statement. New Brunswick, New Jersey-based J&J received about 70 complaints of musty or mildew-like odors in Tylenol caplets as well as reports of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea after use, the FDA said.

“They became aware of the problem in September 2008 and their investigation and report to the agency didn’t occur until about a year later, and we would have expected action to occur sooner than that,” Hirshfield said.

The FDA’s warning letter alleged violations of manufacturing, notification and quality-control rules. It was issued the same day the U.S. Justice Department said J&J paid kickbacks to Omnicare Inc., the largest U.S. pharmacy for nursing home patients, to push prescriptions for its antipsychotic drug Risperdal.

No safe level of secondhand smoke? The facts dispel this myth

2010-01-15T07:02:00.005-06:00

In CTA's brief history we've written very little about this subject except as embedded response to tobacco control (Nicoderm funded) activists. In one posting the organization American Non-Smoker's Rights (ANR) wrote to us:

.....Because there is no safe level (of a harmful substance), ventilation systems cannot claim or give the impression that they will protect people......

"Because there is no safe level of a harmful substance".....I love this argument most of all because it proves how scientifically inept these smoking ban activists are......Do you really want to go there ANR? Because with that mentality you should stop breathing this instant........are you familiar with the harmful substance carbon dioxide? CO2 is fatal to humans at a concentration of 20%, yet with every breath you inhale a concentration of 0.038%......of a "harmful substance" do you really believe your own misinformation? Besides OSHA regulates indoor air quality not the EPA......and OSHA's entire existence is determining safe levels of "harmful substances" in thousands of airborne compounds.....man made and naturally occurring.

Consider these 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......proving 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/2006/02/air-quality-testing-and-secondhand.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

What's behind the latest don't smoke while drinking ad?

2009-12-31T08:13:00.006-06:00

http://www.becomeanex.org/whos-behind-ex.php

When Nicoderm, Nicorette, Nicotrol, Commit maker Johnson & Johnson Company directed their partner RWJF to fund and lobby lawmakers in favor of smoking bans; they had no idea of the negative financial impact on the hospitality industry the resulting legislation would have worldwide.

So the above commercial is a late attempt to "educate" smokers about how to live with these new rent seeking laws, while not bankrupting the hospitality industry and eliminating hundreds of thousands of jobs. As mentioned though, it's far too little too late. It does seem to be an admission from the smoking ban lobbyists of their culpability in decimating hospitality businesses and jobs. So if you lost a business or job due to revenue losses after smoking bans were enacted.....lawyer up......payback may be close at hand.

Happy New Year.....but beware of the secondhand smoke from fireworks

2009-12-31T06:55:00.004-06:00

Fear not New Year's Eve revelers, neither Michael Bloomberg nor the Nicoderm profiteers at Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) will be calling for a ban on firework's secondhand smoke........there's no profit in it; demanding a ban on cigarette smoke while promoting pharmaceutical nicotine alternative products.......now that's another matter.