February 25, 2000
Issue # 56
The Smoker's Club, Inc.
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CONTENTS
1. Lies 2000: CA Proposition 28
2. NH Kills Smoking Ban
3. Anti-smoking law oversteps bounds, B.C. court rules
4. A Lesson In Chemistry
5. Blowing Away the Myth About Passive Smoke
6. L.A. Mayor Says Tobacco Money Should Be Used to Cover Corruption Suits
7. Smoker Takes Stand In Courthouse Against Smoke-Free Environment
8. We Are Everyday People
9. From The Mailbag
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"America wasn't founded so that we could all be better.
America was founded so we could all be anything we damned well pleased."
--P. J. O'Rourke
Lies 2000:CA Proposition 28:
Prop 28 is the among the most straightforward of the 20 ballot initiatives, with no legal jargon, no attempts to mislead, and no candy coating. Prop 28 repeals the tax on tobacco products imposed by Prop 10 from the 1998 ballot.
In addition, Prop 28 seeks to reinstate the principle that individual freedom takes precedence over socially-imposed restrictions on health and lifestyle choices.
NH Kills Smoking Ban:
Fosters News. The House killed two bills on Thursday that would have banned smoking in restaurants, but approved a bill increasing the penalties for selling cigarettes to minors.
Opponents argued the ban would infringe on the rights of restaurant owners to make their own decisions and would be another example of government intrusion into business affairs.
Anti-smoking law oversteps bounds, B.C. court rules:
"We would urge the premier now to begin a new approach to tobacco that includes co-operating with industry rather than lawsuits," said Mr. Laundy.
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A LESSON IN CHEMISTRY FOR IGNORANT HEALTH OFFICERS:
To summarize, of the twelve constituents of cigarette smoke identified in the Ministry’s press release, fact sheets and advertisement, two do not exist. One, propylene glycol, is misidentified as anti-freeze. It is a harmless approved food additive used only in roll-your-own cigarettes. The other nine either occur naturally in tobacco (and are ubiquitously present in many other agricultural products as well as in the water and the air) or are the byproducts of combustion. While this is acknowledged in the “disclaimer” in the advertisement, it was not acknowledged in the press releases or fact sheets.
Blowing Away the Myth About Passive Smoke:
And now, the Council has the chance to consider the evidence that's surfaced since it bought the story that passive smoking kills.
And all the evidence proves that secondary smoke is a sick joke, there's nothing to it.
The EPA study, upon which everything was based, was destroyed two years ago by Federal Judge William Osteen, a jurist whose record showed him to be an enemy of the tobacco lobby. But on this, Osteen held that the EPA was guilty of deliberate fraud, that it fixed its numbers to achieve a result it had determined and announced in advance.
Around the same time, the World Health Organization, the bastion of the anti-smoking movement, released a report in Vienna, based on a study that covered 21 countries over 10 years, costing millions of dollars. The result: No link found between secondary smoke and cancer or heart disease or anything.
L.A. Mayor Says Tobacco Money Should Be Used to Cover Corruption Suits:
Mayor Richard Riordan recommended Thursday that Los Angeles set aside its share of the national tobacco settlement - up to $300 million - to cover lawsuits brought by victims of the city's police corruption scandal.
Smoker Takes Stand In Courthouse Against Smoke-Free Environment:
We all sooner or later in our lives get the summons to do our part for society to serve time on Jury Duty. Then I realized that all court houses are smoke-free.
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We Are Everyday People:
Big Pig:
It's about Freedom! Articles, links, and more. Help make it a great site by participating and submitting.
Defending California, the Nation, and America's Allies from Ballistic Missile Attack:
A Conference Co-Sponsored by The Claremont Institute and The Heritage Foundation. Hyatt Regency Long Beach. 2/26/00
Electoral College System:
Does your vote really count? The U.S. president is elected not by the nation but by a small group of specially appointed "electors." Government Info Guide Robert Longley takes a look at the electoral college.
From The Mailbag:
The American Association for the Advancement of Science reported that synthetic nicotine-type patches may be used to treat a range of brain disorders such as Tourette syndrome, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. According to Dr. Paul Sanberg, a researcher at the University of South Florida, nicotine has been found to stimulate brain pathways that can help control involuntary movements, tics, hyperactivity and attention problems. Dr. Sanberg said, "A number of drug companies are developing nicotine-like drugs that have fewer side effects than nicotine itself" (Boston Globe, Electronic Telegraph 2/22).
I suggest that we all write to George W. congratulating him for his win but reminding him that smokers came out in droves because of their outrage that McCain sponsored the largest tobacco tax in history! I did! (Y.H.)
So what's next? Photographs of fat people posted at McDonald's and Dunkin' Donuts, or maybe pinned to the easychairs at furniture outlets? Pictures of desiccated livers in liquor stores and wine bars? Nasty shots of rotted teeth displayed on Pepsi and Coke machines?
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Thank you for your continued help in creating this newsletter!
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Acetone is produced by the combustion of any organic material, including tobacco; it is present in millionths of a gram in the smoke of a cigarette. This is less than one half of one per cent of the daily tolerable level established by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists for occupational exposure. Acetone is approve by Health Canada for use in the extraction of spices.
Benzo(a)pyrene (erroneously called Benzopyrene in B.C. Health Ministry ads and news releases) is found in urban air, drinking water, smoked and fried foods; it is a product of combustion. A 20 cigarette a day smoker would ingest, at most, .00000057 grams, less than a third of the daily tolerable level as calculated from the advisory levels set by the U.S. Occupational Safety and health Administration. By comparison, a 250 gram charbroiled steak contains up to .000002 grams or the equivalent of three packages of the average Canadian cigarette.
Arsenic occurs naturally in tobacco and many other plants from the soil in which they grow. Arsenic is found in water, fish and other foods. A 20 cigarette a day smoker would ingest about .00000064 grams of arsenic or less than one per cent of the daily tolerable level established by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists. A 200 gram serving of fish such as sole may contain up to .0018 grams, as much as that ingested in the smoke from nearly 3,000 packages of cigarettes.
Butane is found in the atmosphere, primarily from the combustion of petroleum products, for example automobile exhaust, and is present in cigarette smoke as a by-product of combustion. It is approved by Health Canada as a propellant for vegetable oil-based cooking pan coatings. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration classifies butane as “Generally Regarded as Safe” (GRAS) as a food additive. The accepted daily safe level for butane is the equivalent of smoking more than 9,000 packages of cigarettes.
Cadmium, like many other trace metals, occurs naturally in tobacco and other plants. It is present in foodstuffs in Canada including fish, wheat and bran cereals, pasta, tomatoes, and milk. A 20 cigarette a day smoker would ingest .0000024 grams of cadmium or less than one-eighth of the cadmium found in a half-pound crab.
Lead, like many other trace metals, occurs naturally in tobacco and is found in most foodstuffs in Canada including meat, fish, poultry, nuts, milk, grain and potatoes. A 20 cigarette a day smoker would ingest .00000118 grams. By comparison, a half bottle of wine may contain about .0000385 grams or 32 times as much as that ingested from one pack of cigarettes.
Formaldehyde is a byproduct of combustion; it is also produced by the decay of organic material. It is commonly used in the manufacture of synthetic fabrics, carpets, building material and plastics; it is also used as a preservative in some cosmetics and medications. Residual quantities are present in the air of most homes. The daily permissible exposure limit set by the U.S. Occupational Safety and health Administration is more than six times greater the level of formaldehyde ingested by a 20 cigarette a day smoker.
Ammonia is a byproduct of combustion and the decay of organic material. The human body naturally produces about the same amount of ammonia as ingested from a pack of cigarettes. A 20 cigarette a day smoker would ingest about 0.7 per cent of the daily permissible exposure limit for ammonia set by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Benzene is a byproduct of combustion, particularly from automobile fuels, and is ubiquitous in the environment. It is also present in eggs, vegetable and dairy products. A 20 cigarette a day smoker would ingest, at the most, 30 per cent of the permissible daily Recommended Exposure Limit set by the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
