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THE
FORCES NEWSLETTER
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April 17, 2006 |
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Tobacco Control
 April
17 - Michael Siegel is a physician who specialized in preventive
medicine and public health. He is now a professor in the Social and
Behavioral Sciences Department, Boston University School of Public
Health. Dr. Siegel has 20 years of experience in tobacco control,
primarily as a researcher. His areas of research interest include the
health effects of secondhand smoke, policy aspects of regulating smoking
in public places, effects of cigarette marketing on youth smoking
behavior, and the evaluation of tobacco control program and policy
interventions.
The old chestnut of politics making
strange bedfellows often comes to mind when discussing the work of Dr.
Siegel. FORCES approach to "tobacco control" is essentially
libertarian. Tobacco in its many forms is a legal product that is
also an integral part of our culture. In the United States tobacco
helped finance the War of Independence and the leaf of this remarkable
plant graces the imposing columns of the capitol building in Washington
DC. We do not believe that tobacco control is a legitimate
activity in which the government should engage. Obviously product
safety, normal taxation and the various interstate commerce issues
involved with distribution can be considered the business of governments
but "tobacco control" as defined by anti-smoking interests goes well
beyond the scope of a society that claims to honor personal choice and
advocate individual responsibility. On that level we find
incomprehensible why anyone would devote decades pursuing a vocation
that to us is unworthy of pursuit.
We have, however, come to believe that
Dr. Siegel has much to offer those who, by necessity, have been drawn
into tobacco control issues. It is perhaps now accurate to say
that FORCES is now itself inextricably entwined in tobacco control.
We want to destroy it while Dr. Siegel wants to reform it and help it
regain its focus on improving health. Michael Siegel, the insider
from tobacco control and FORCES, along with a multitude of groups and
individuals adamantly opposed to the course anti-tobacco has taken,
have, after all much in common.
Dr. Siegel is a prolific writer and over
the past few years has produced a wealth of information about the
dubious tactics of mainline tobacco control organizations. He
lucidly and expansively discusses the scientific, social, political and
legal aspects of the huge and powerful tobacco control movement.
He does not pull any punches and when he finds something wrong,
dishonest or abusive he is not shy in bringing anti-tobacco's misdeeds
to the public. He provides the facts that the mainstream media
cannot be bothered to report.
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Affiliates FORCES is glad
to present a new affiliate:
NJ Loves
Smokers' Money. Active in New Jersey against the fraud-based
ban, it allows to sign a petition against the ban and makes
available a nice on-line store for protest items. |
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April
17 -
Manufacturing the mountain -
Earlier
this month FORCES spokesman Norman Kjono went head to head with one
of anti-tobacco's most notorious spin jockeys on Voice of
America. While the
debate
was fairly wide-ranging comments made by the anti-tobacco
operative is germane to Dr. Siegel's commentary here. When
presented with the facts about how a particular secondhand smoke
study had been debunked, the operative countered by saying that the
majority of opinion backed up his claim that secondhand smoke is an
extreme danger and must be banned, even outdoors.
We have here the "mountain of evidence"
argument that charlatans offer when the real facts don't prop up
their argument. To them a hundred people parroting the same
lie is more credible than the reputable scientist who
demonstrates incontrovertibly that what they are claiming is
simply untrue.
Such is what is happening with one of
the silliest mantras adopted by anti-tobacco special interests.
One half hour of exposure to secondhand smoke, they say, causes
hardening of the arteries in nonsmokers, increasing the heart attack
risk in nonsmokers to the level observed in long time smokers.
One anti-smoking outfit has pared the danger zone down to
20 minutes
while
16 additional groups
have
joined the mass hysteria since Dr. Siegel first reported on it.
Common sense renders such a bizarre
claim preposterous in the extreme. Dr. Siegel, however,
dismantles the claim using scientific facts. More disturbing
to him is the concentrated effort to perpetrate a fraud by
anti-smoking organizations that claim to base their positions on the
truth. That all of them, in this case at least, are lying
bodes ill for the future of tobacco control's credibility.
April
17 -
Goon squad threatens employee -
While
it is always risky to hark back into the past for links with
unsavory elements to today's anti-tobacco movement, Action on
Smoking and Health's radicalism and unpleasantness cannot be
discussed in a vacuum. Hitler's early supporters known as
Brown shirts or storm troopers were crucial for his rise to power.
Their thuggish brutality was initially useful but after the Nazi's
came to power the undisciplined violence and crudeness became a
liability so the brown shirts where eliminated.
ASH today fulfills the function of
testing the waters to see just how far anti-tobacco can go in
intimidating those who refuse to buy into the tobacco hysteria.
Dr. Siegel reports how ASH threatening ruinous litigation against an
employee of George Washington University because he has not enacted
an outdoor smoking ban that ASH demands be implemented.
Traditionally employees of corporations and public organizations are
shielded from personal litigation so ASH's threat could be construed
as so much hot air. Unfortunately, as the Germans found, a
culture of might makes right can take a people down a path to
destruction.
April
17 -
The sky's the limit -
One
in four bartenders will die prematurely from heart attacks due to
secondhand smoke, so says an tobacco control organization in Great
Britain. It would be simple to relegate such a preposterous
claim to the ever-expanding trash can of junk science except, as Dr.
Siegel reports here, even the researchers don't make the claim
British Heart Foundation is making. In fact the Heart
Foundation appears to be deliberately twisting data to support its
claim. Rarely do anti-tobacco groups misbehave so obviously
but, as we contend, anti-tobacco has reached psychotic point where
reality holds no value to the fanatics whose drive for power has
become the sole reason for their existence. |
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April
17 -
Back it up! -
Last
week Michael Siegel issued a challenge to over three dozen
anti-smoking organizations to back up their claims that one half
hour of exposure to secondhand smoke puts non smokers at as much
risk for getting a heart attack as long term smokers. While
such a claim should be relegated to the inmates of a loony bin
today's press and "health" authorities purposely traffic in
ludicrous health scares to make a buck and impose coercive agendas.
Dr. Siegel knows that the one half hour claim has no basis in
reality and we know that the anti-tobacco organizations distributing
such nonsense do not have the courage to respond to his challenge.
They are lying, they know it, Dr. Siegel knows it and before long
the entire country will know it.
April
17 -
Expanding the hysteria -
Michael
Siegel finds it strange that the two dozen anti-smoking outfits that
claim one half hour of secondhand smoke is equivalent to smoking
cigarettes for decades remain silent about the extreme danger faced
by everyone in restaurants and in the kitchen. Using the same
panic-producing methods anti-tobacco utilizes, the food hysterics
have determined that heart attacks on the plate are imperiling the
nation. Check out the meals from hell and be sure to try the
scrumptious tater tot casserole recipe Dr. Siegel thoughtfully
includes.
April
17 -
Partnering with Big Tobacco -
Earlier
this month anti-tobacco goons throughout the nation infiltrated the
public schools ostensibly to propagandize against smoking.
This year's Kick Butts Day, however, was more notable for the
service it provided Big Tobacco than for dissuading minors from
taking up smoking. As Dr. Siegel reports The Campaign for
Tobacco-Free Kids has become an effective lobbying arm for the
nation's largest cigarette maker. Philip Morris and CTFK are
using their considerable resources to pressure Congress into passing
a bill that will transform the cigarette manufacturer into a de
facto monopoly.
Groups like the Campaign for
Tobacco-Free Kids do not ever act without the promise of financial
rewards. The partnership between this anti-smoking group and
Big Tobacco that Dr. Siegel details is in line with FORCES'
contention that Big Tobacco long ago adopted the "if you can't beat
them, join them" strategy. What's good for Big Tobacco is good
for tobacco control. What's good for smokers and for society
as a whole is to be deplored by both.
April
17 -
Partnering with Big Pharma -
Washington
DC will host the International Tobacco Control Conference this July.
From throughout the world planeloads of zealots, thugs and shakedown
artists will converge on our nation's capital during the month we
celebrate our rapidly disappearing freedom.
We don't know whether Michael Siegel
is invited but he has taken a look at the guest list and finds that
two of the lead sponsors are huge international pharmaceutical
corporations. Their presence doesn't indicate an altruistic
impulse to improve the world's health. Nope, they are their to
push their smoking cessation products. As Dr. Siegel notes
discussions about the efficacy of smoking cessation treatment are
useless when the conference is dominated by two corporations that
make tons of money peddling their questionable products to a captive
consumer base that, though smoking bans and high taxation, is
compelled to forego cigarettes in favor of the pharmaceutical
nicotine, or worse, manufactured by Big Drugs. Maybe next year
the conference will include Philip Morris, the cigarette
manufacturer that is developing its own smoking cessation devices in
a big way. | |
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April
17 -
Down the tubes -
If
we were a basketball team, I'd say it's time to look for a new
coach: someone who could take the program in another direction.
Someone who could take a program that is in a mess and find a way to
straighten things out. A Roy Williams kind of guy. Someone with
character and integrity. Someone who cared about getting results,
but also cared about the way that one gets results. Someone who
understood the importance of credibility, character, and reputation.
The anti-smoking movement, I believe, is in a real mess. The
highlight of that mess of course is the completely fallacious claims
that are being made nationally by many anti-smoking groups.
This cri du coeur from Dr. Siegel
will be ignored by the rich, powerful and thoroughly corrupt tobacco
control organizations that have hijacked the health agenda and
turned it into a perpetual money-grubbing scheme based on lies and
political control. From tobacco control's inability to produce
solid scientific communications
to the hateful and bigoted measures directed at smokers, Dr. Siegel
sees disaster as the ultimate result awaiting this movement as
citizens and politicians can no longer ignore that money and power
fuel agendas that violate all decency.
FORCES agrees with Dr. Siegel that
anti-tobacco as it currently is constituted cannot sustain itself
forever. We disagree with him, however, on whether it should
be saved. Let it collapse under its bloated, corrupt weight
and once its down, drive a stake through its rotten heart. |
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 April
17 -
30% of nothing is still nothing
– We have abundantly reported on the latest antismoking scam about a
few minutes of exposure to passive smoke increasing the risk of
heart disease by 30%, and we don’t believe it is necessary to
belabour further on the absurdity of that claim. But we need to
reiterate something important – that is, we have to check our bases.
The strategy of antitobacco propaganda is to build a lie over a lie,
so that everybody argues over the latest absurdity and the public
forgets the fraud that came before it, which in turn ends up being
taken for granted – a trick that seems to work all the time.
The
whole issue of second hand smoke is a fraud – why, again?... Because
not only is the quality of the science junk, based as it is on
questionnaires that ask about distant memories of un-measurable
exposure occurring decades earlier, it is, after the
exercise, insignificant as it turns out that the increment of risk is
around 30%. Every text of epidemiology indicates that
such risk increments do not prove that there is a risk existing.
Why? Because of possible errors – and especially because ALL the
diseases examined have a great quantity of concomitant factors. In
other words, unless the risk increment is huge enough to stick out
like a sore thumb (say, 200 - 300%) nobody can even vaguely assert
that the slight risk elevation is due to passive smoke.
There you go. So, any study that talks about 30, 40, even 80% risk
elevation is irrelevant – and any argument that follows is
just a waste of time as well as blowing hot, fraudulent air. One need
not be anepidemiologist or “expert” of any sort to figure
that out, nor do we have to be impressed by words such as “breathing
passive smoke can be harmful”. Of course it can be harmful –
everything “can” be harmful: water, driving, eating – it’s
just a matter of dose. The question is: it is
harmful? How do you determine that? With experimental science
that determines cause and effect that is predictable and repeatable
by other experimenters. There is no such science for passive
smoke – just epidemiological junk science that can’t even show
enough risk elevation to distinguish passive smoke from any other
background risk – for lung cancer, heart disease or anything else
you want. Even in the worst conditions passive smoke is simply
NOT powerful enough to cause any harm. Show risk
increments of 200% or more in well conducted studies or shut up. Period.
The
logical and only conclusion, therefore, is that we are lied to
– no matter who speaks the lie: the American Cancer Society, the
Surgeon General, the World Health Organization or any other
individual or group. In fact, the more important the organization
involved, the graver is the institutional corruption problem. It is
no longer a matter of whether passive smoke is dangerous: over 25
years of studies could not prove that at all: it is not a matter
of opinion - it's a matter of fact. So it is self-evident that
passive smoke is not dangerous. The issue is: how long are we
willing to put up with rotten institutions that steal our money to
push frauds on us? |
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Prohibition
 April
17 -
Vive la France! -
Ever
hewing to an independent course, the citizens of France knocked down
an outrageous governmental plan to ban smoking in the country's
restaurants and bars. Back to the drawing board say the
chastened bureaucrats who thought they could pull a fast one on a
people distracted by car burnings and employee rights upheavals.
Kowtowing to the multi-national pharmaceutical corporations that
bribed the government to ban smoking on private property
proved to be a bridge too far for the freedom loving French to
cross. Will anti-tobacco be back with another proposal?
Of course but probably not until the next election cycle is
complete. Until then the French can rightfully enjoy their
irritating but, in this case, well-developed sense of superiority.
Understanding the Obvious
April 17 -
News flash! The sun is hot! -
The
BBC, a reliable dispenser of hysteria, reports on an astounding
development in the worrisome global warming situation. Some
scientists are blaming the phenomenon on heat from the sun!
What a break through! Apparently it isn't us human ants who
are responsible for directing the climate of the world.
Of course the BBC cannot let such a
global warming heresy stand on its own and couldn't resist throwing
in this irrelevant comment:
The scientists do not pretend
they can explain everything, nor do they say that attempts to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions should be abandoned.
Nope, the scientists didn't say that
and the article wasn't about emission targets. The scientists said
the sun is the cause of climate change. Anything else is BBC's
relentless spin in service of its favorite special interests.
Big Pharma
 April
17 -
Promoting pill popping -
An
astonishing event occurred in Australia recently. A lecturer
on public health took a hard look at how policy makers are colluding
with pharmaceutical companies to ratchet up the panic level over
depression in order to sell expensive anti-depressives.
Needless to say this brave individual was attacked immediately by
operatives who shill for the most powerful industry on earth.
It's no surprise that no scrutiny in this country of the relentless
marketing practice of Big Drugs is possible. With billions of
dollars at stake there isn't one news outlet that can afford to
anger the biggest advertising block there is.
April 17 -
"Disease-mongering" -
Coining
a new and very accurate term, a leading medical journal examines how
drug companies increase sales by creating new "diseases" and turning
normal conditions into excuses for expensive drug taking.
Disease-mongering turns healthy
people into patients, wastes precious resources and causes
iatrogenic (medically induced) harm. Like the marketing
strategies that drive it, disease-mongering poses a global
challenge to those interested in public health, demanding in
turn a global response.
The journal neglects to point out a
third category of drug company mercantile malfeasance. Turning
tobacco use into the kiss of death staved off only by switching from
cigarettes to more expensive pharmaceutical cessation devices has
also resulted in wads of cash flowing into Big Drugs' ever-expanding
coffers. |
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Population Control
April 17 -
TV as bad as cigarettes -
TV
and video games cause obesity, tobacco and alcohol abuse, risky sex
and violence so say "researchers" at the University of Washington.
Warning labels, just like those plastered on cigarette packs, need
to be affixed to the boob tube and game consoles. After all,
the grant junkies claim, the links between television and the
aforementioned pathologies are just as strong as those linking
cigarettes to lung cancer.
Considering that the vast majority of
smokers don't get lung cancer and scientists have yet to
prove smoking causes lung cancer "strong" may be the wrong
adjective to use. Never mind the lack of real evidence that TV
leads to an early death. As one "researcher" says, it's long
overdue to take a "public health approach" to entertainment.
Of course. Public Health must control every aspect of our
lives.
Hysteria
 April
17 -
Scaring up the big bucks -
I'd
agree Hoegh-Guldberg is honest and says all this because that's what
the science tells him, and other scientists back him. But again he's
found this doom-preaching has its perks. He now chairs a $20 million
global warming study funded by the World Bank.
The sky is falling! The sky is
falling! Remember that childhood tale about an empty-headed
hen initiating a panic in the barnyard? Maybe it's time to
reintroduce the upcoming generation to the wisdom enfolded in
yesterday's childhood stories. As this account about how one
hysteric made a very good living prophesizing the death of
Australia's Great Barrier Reef shows, false predictions, if gaudy
enough, pays big dividends.
April 17 -
Shrieking for dollars -
If
you're a scientist working for private industry, it helps to invent
something useful. But if you're a scientist trying to get funding
from the government, you're better off telling the world how
horrible things are.
John Stossel explains how activist
"scientists" have become more adept at extracting public dollars
than in conducting basic research. As with tobacco research,
the outcome is determined well in advance of the actual study and
above all financial remuneration is the goal rather than knowledge.
Health
April 17 -
Genetics and lung cancer -
A
study found that close relatives of those who contracted cancer are
more likely to develop the disease than those whose close relatives
never succumb to cancer. The researchers found this to be true
irregardless of smoking status. Of course the researchers
insert an anti-smoking message into their report but it is
significant that secondhand smoke, which supposedly is just as bad
as smoking, isn't mentioned at all. Anti-tobacco must not have
had a chance to vet this study.
Tobacco Cartel
April 17 -
Unholy alliance -
Big
Government and Big Tobacco are strengthening their alliance.
Hold onto your wallets! When Philip Morris and tax-hungry
governments find common ground there is only one result possible;
the crushing of competition and the collateral damage of
pick-pocketed smokers. After Big Tobacco made its deal with
the state attorney generals it immediately raised the price of
cigarettes well beyond what would be required to pay for the tobacco
settlement. Now Big Tobacco wants Big Government to snuff out
the competition from the upstarts who can sell their product for
less. | |
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