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THE RIGHT TO LIFE"In the last few years, smokers have been murdered or physically attacked in Canada, Tokyo, Wales and the U.S. simply for smoking tobacco."(1) A 57 year old man tried to enter a taxi in Manchester, NH with a cigarette in his hand. The driver sain No...and then shot the fellow to death, though whether or not the pistol then smoked, we don't know. (2) An 8 1/2 month pregnant woman was assaulted by a man who simply "became enreaged because he was bothered by her smoke" as she sat outside a shopping mall. The arresting officer said that the assailant wasn't concerned about the effects of the fetus, "he was worred about himself." A 60-year-old patron, forcibly "bounced" from a New York City restaurant ("set upon by five waiters...kicked, punched, thrown out into the street") for the crime of smoking, remained in a coma ever since the attack. The office of the Manhattan District Attorney defended the restaurant's right to "use physical force...to eject abusive customers." Besides, the DA said, there was "insufficient evidence that excessive force was used [since] the only physical injury was to the back of the man's head."(4) In England, smokers have been denied the right to necessary, life-saving medical care simply because they smoke. (5) Is this where we're heading? (1) News release, FOREST, 3/7/95 (2 Grosvenor Gardens, London
SW 1W ODH); See also "Woman Guilty of...Stabbing
Smoker," Canada News, 3/5/94; "Man's Throat Slashed
Over Cigarette," St. Petersburg Times, 1/9/96. (3) The High Pt (IL) Enterprise, 12/19/95: "pregnant Smoker is Attacked." (4) New York Post, 2/24/95; and followup (man still in a coma) NY Post 4/16/964/6/95 (2) New York Post, 2/14/95; 4/6/95. |
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