|
|
|
THE
FORCES NEWSLETTER
FORCES has a newsletter now. To receive it, please enter
your e-mail address in the slot below. |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
May
1, 2006 |
|
|
Evidence
 May 1 -
New primary studies on passive smoke-cancer and passive
smoke-cardiovascular disease confirm the lack of danger from
exposure – We have added to our list of ALL the studies ever
conduced on passive smoke four new studies – three on
passive smoke and lung cancer and one on
passive smoke and cardiovascular disease. None of the
studies has been financed by the tobacco industry. The newly added
studies are marked with a “New” icon. As per our tradition, all
studies can be downloaded as originals to allow for independent
verification. Antismoking activists instead keep on telling us that
there are studies that show that passive smoke kills but they never
show them to us – simply because they do not exist.
As it can be seen in the tables, the risk elevations are very low
(18, 32 and 74% for the new studies), and all absolutely
below the 200-300% minimum risk elevation threshold established by
epidemiology to suspect the existence of a real risk for this
kind of multifactorial diseases (click
here for authoritative citations about this). This brings
the total number of studies to 117 (75 for lung cancer and 42 for
cardiovascular disease). NONE of them reaches the minimum risk
elevation that is needed, and all of them fall short of the
target from three to twenty times.
This confirms once again that antismoking activists and health
“authorities” keep on conning the public opinion by giving a
false representation of the available evidence for political and
economic purposes to support and implement laws that are implicitly
false and unfair because they are based on fraud. Finally let us
remember that – regardless of what they show – all the passive smoke
studies are
junk science because they are based on
questionnaires on non verifiable
exposure occurred 10 to 30 years earlier. Antismoking
activists, therefore, not only scam us by turning what the studies
mean upside down, but also con us a second time by representing
statistical trash without any scientific value as science. The
Chinese boxes of antitobacco are truly endless. |
|
|
Hate
May 1 -
The longer antismoking groups stay in business, the more
dangerous ETS gets
-
Buried in some routine local coverage of a smoking ban battle is this quote
from a local tobacco hysteria activist:
" ‘Secondhand smoke is extremely dangerous," said Ann Marwick, director of Pow'r
Against Tobacco, an anti-smoking group that coordinates activities in Rockland,
Westchester, Putnam and Orange counties. "A burning cigarette is more toxic to
the people around it than it is to the person smoking it.’”
Ah, yes. We’re getting used to seeing these fraudulent up-the-ante claims.
So… just how dangerous would that be, Ms. Marwick? As dangerous as the exhaust
from your car? More? Less? By how much? Do you cook in your kitchen, Ms.
Marwick, do you fry? Has anyone measured the particulate matter that results?
Should someone stop you from doing it? If you don’t do it, should someone stop
your neighbour – before it’s too late? What about the kitchens in the pubs in
your local area? Has anyone measured the toxic air there? What are you going to
do about all the bad air, everywhere, that might prove to be just as toxic –
why, maybe even more so – than the air you’re so worried about.
And who gave you the bright idea that ETS is more dangerous than smoking?
Perhaps one of the legions of antismoking activists who – deprived of social
approval for such traditional means as racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, homophobia
and fear of witches – now seeks to evoke the all-too-human desire to hate
SOMEONE – through healthism.
These people are a shameless, shameful headache.
Hysteria
 May
1 -
The habit of public panic for gain
- The ETS scare that’s leading to smoking bans on beaches and
parks has method to its madness. It’s part of a well-established practice of
frightening the public for gain. In this article, journalist John Stossel
revisits the now debunked “crack baby” scare and how public fear-mongering
helped researchers get more money for their studies, and encouraged everyone to
spin the results into yet more panic. It’s the same thing that’s happening now
with ETS – and it could lead to prohibition if it isn’t stopped.
Straightening up Eaters
May 1 -
Science in their own interest
- “Had the anti-smoking zealots revealed their entire agenda back in the '60s
and '70s, they wouldn't have gotten much. By using the piecemeal approach, they've
been successful beyond their dreams, and the food zealots are following their
example,” notes columnist Walter E. Williams, in this glimpse into the ambitions
of Center for Science in the Public Interest.
If you’re ready for government monitoring and control of your grocery purchases
in the foreseeable future, just keep quiet while the anti-smoking, anti-fat
brigade arranges it all for you. After all, they’re promising the politicians
heftier tax revenues. What weight does your individual dignity carry against
that?
that’s happening now with ETS – and it could lead to prohibition if it isn’t stopped. |
|
Behavior Control
May 1 -
We’re all
antisocial now!
- Hatred and intolerance: not just against smokers, anymore. Especially in
Britain, where an Orwellian legislative mechanism called ASBOS, or Anti-Social
Behaviour Orders, has set a new social tone – and unleashed a wave of petty
neighbourhood harassment that targets just about anyone as a criminal, or a
quasi-criminal.
“I’m OK, You’re OK”, the pop psychologists reassured us in the 1970s. Flash
forward to a new century, and it’s clear that nobody is OK anymore. In fact, the
buzzword is “anti-social”, a term that applies not only to the violent young
thugs that roam Britain’s streets (often escaping arrest), but to just about
anybody else (a broad category that’s much easier to bring to justice!)
In a recent case, the mother of three-year-old Ben received a letter from her
landlord, and has been threatened with possible eviction if Ben’s “anti-social”
behaviour (kicking a ball around on the grass with other kids, known in less
enlightened times as healthy playing outside) is not stopped.
"Willow Park has received a complaint about anti-social behaviour perpetrated by
your son Ben and his friends, who have been playing football and causing a
disturbance,” reads the warning letter. "Anti-social behaviour includes: Playing
ball games close to someone else's home."
Anti-smoking is part of the “Nobody’s OK”
zeitgeist, and so is the repression of
children’s normal play in the name of law and order.
We’ll know the dark cloud is lifting when we catch a whiff of cigarette smoke
and a glimpse of a kid kicking a ball around the yard …
May 1 -
Topsy turvey -
It
isn't surprising that in a country where three-year-old ball-playing
boys are considered anti-social, moral confusion is the norm while
normality elicits opprobrium. In the United Kingdom acts of
mindlessly malicious violence are treated as nonchalantly as saner
societies treat shoplifting.
A couple of
horrific and inexplicable incidents where two family men were nearly killed
and permanently disabled by feral "youths" whose punishment is so
light that the authorities, far from exacting justice from the
guilty, have merely granted the badge of honor incarceration bestows
upon the up and coming chronic criminal.
Contrast the slaps
on the wrists given to attempted murderers with the treatment
afforded a drunken university student whose offhand remark to a
mounted policeman resulted in a stay in jail and being charged under
the Public Order Act. Judge for yourself whether the remark
was "homophobic" and also ask yourself whether, even if it were, the
zeal by which he was apprehended and treated is a rational response from a
well-adjusted society.
Smoking rears its
head in the article and the author, who appears not to be overly
aware of England's madness on tobacco issues, ponders the future of
a country that considers public smoking more deplorable than attempted
murder. When the nationwide smoking ban goes into effect rest
assured that the full majesty of the law will be brought to bare on
smokers whose punishment will be severe. | |
|
|
TOBACCO CONTROL |
|
 May
1 -
Exponential lies -
Tobacco
may not be addicting but spewing lies about smoking is an addiction that
threatens to derail the tobacco control movement even as it appears triumphant.
Michael Siegel was aghast when anti-smoking organizations declared that 30
minutes of secondhand smoke exposure equals a lifetime of smoking. He was
astounded when 30 minutes became 20 minutes.
He is depressed that anti-smoking operatives are
now claiming that five minutes of secondhand smoke is sufficient for the
arteries to begin closing, leading to heart disease. If five minutes of
ETS is so deadly, why haven't the anti-smoking groups called for a complete ban
on smoking everywhere by everyone?
May
1 -
Wisps of smoke deadlier than smoking -
One
wouldn't think anti-tobacco could top the lie that five minutes of secondhand
smoke leads to heart disease in nonsmokers but, as Michael Siegel reports, there
appears no limit to what the zealots will claim. Secondhand smoke is now
more harmful than directly smoking a cigarette. Dr. Siegel demolishes that
lie but he can't save anti-tobacco from itself.
May
1 -
In the eye of the beholder -
Without
junk science the tobacco control movement would not have been able to ban
smoking in private property such as bars and restaurants. Despite its love
of junk science anti-tobacco operatives are quick to call junk any research that
doesn't adhere to the anti-smoking orthodoxy. Dr. Siegel exposes the
hypocrisy that is endemic to anti-tobacco. |
|
May
1 -
Deliberating lying to pass bans -
Dr.
Siegel is troubled how anti-smoking pressure groups are all speaking from the
same deceptive script. One after another go before legislative bodies and
swear, with straight faces, that 30 or 20 or 5 minutes of secondhand smoke can
lead to heart disease in nonsmokers. There is no proof for such claims,
the notion is patently absurd yet people who know better continue to lie.
Deliberately lying is harmful to the credibility of tobacco control.
May
1 -
Concern is growing -
Michael
Siegel is not a voice in the wilderness decrying the deceptive tactics of the
tobacco control movement. There are others who recognize tobacco control's
credibility is in danger of evaporating. In this article he comments on
the president of the American Council on Science and Health calling anti-tobacco
"increasingly unscientific, arrogant, absolutist, and intolerant of dissenting
views." Although her message is diluted by her own endorsement of many of
the myths about smoking her justified contempt of anti-tobacco does show that
patience is wearing thin.
May
1 -
Federal anti-tobacco politics -
Michael
Siegel, along with FORCES, is disturbed how a nominee for an ambassadorial
position has been put in limbo at the behest of anti-smoking groups.
Doubly disturbing is the fact that anti-tobacco has made a stooge of a U.S.
Senator who is cravenly doing the bidding of rich special interests at the
expense of this country's interests. | |
|
|
Commentary
May 1 -
Things I Don't Understand
- Gian Turci is encouraged that despite the overwhelming odds
against them, a multitude of Davids have erupted to take on the
anti-tobacco Goliath. He does, however, have a bone to pick with
some of them over pro-smoker rights websites that include jarring links
to "quit smoking" strategies and programs. What's up with all of
that? Where are the endorsements of tobacco enjoyment? Come
on folks, we don't smoke because we're victims of nefarious marketing
schemes. We smoke because we enjoy it, just as the millions of
people who smoked prior to the commercial age of ubiquitous advertising.
They didn't need advertising to recognize a good thing when they
experienced it and they certainly didn't need nagging messages from
caring and wiser people on the need to snuff out an innocuous pleasure.
Can the quit smoking links and celebrate tobacco.
May 1 -
Finally A Real Epidemic
- You may have missed it by April 25 was Africa Malaria Day.
Gian Turci certainly paid attention and notes that malaria causes at
least one million deaths a year. Those are real deaths, with real
bodies that were killed by a real disease, unlike the virtual tobacco
death toll that is the figment of special interests hoping to make a
buck out of stop smoking nostrums. Truly concerned people may
wonder why the World Health Organization and the World Bank, outfits
that work diligently to impose tobacco prohibition upon the globe, are
so cavalier about the stacks of corpses and resulting economic
catastrophe in the basket cases of the Third World.
Mr. Turci believes he
has the answer why the virtual tobacco epidemic takes precedence over
the real epidemics, including malaria, that cause such destruction.
|
|
|
Straightening up Drinkers
May 1 -
Over the top in Texas: every bar patron a suspect
-
A heavy-handed and intrusive alcohol enforcement program in Texas
has just been suspended, to the relief of local bar owners and their customers.
The program had sought to identify drunks in bars and arrest them after a
breathalizer test, and bar patrons were being tagged and pulled out of the
premises for testing sometimes after just a couple of drinks.
“If they don't want people drinking, they should outlaw alcohol," said one
owner. That, of course, would at least have the virtue of being an honest
approach. But as every politician and lifestyle purity activist knows, harassing
‘em on one hand and taxing ‘em on the other is more fun and more lucrative.
And when in doubt, harass ‘em just in case.
May 1 -
Presumed guilty
-
New
York legislators are considering whether to require auto makers install a
breathalyzer in all cars and trucks. The device supposedly makes it
impossible for an intoxicated driver from starting the vehicle. Needless
to say Mothers Against Drunk Driving is endorsing this latest intrusion into
privacy.
"If the public wants it
and the data support it, it is literally possible that the epidemic of drunk
driving could be solved where cars simply could not be operated by drunk
drivers," says Chuck Hurley, CEO of MADD, which is hosting its first
conference on drunken-driving technology in June. "What a great day
that would be."
The public, in the shape of
biased surveys, will duly "support" the onboard breathalyzer and even if polling
can't be slanted enough, special interests, such as MADD, whose primary purpose
is self-perpetuation, will lobby, threaten and bully spineless legislators into
driving another stake into personal responsibility and dignity.
May 1 -
San Francisco tackles alcohol
-
For
52 years the North Beach Festival has been packing in a crowd enjoying a day in
the sun, good music, good food and drink. This year, in its newly assumed
role of public nanny, the Park and Recreation Department is proposing that the
event be "alcohol free."
It's for the children, so it
is said, but in San Francisco, where every public entity is subservient to
Public Health, Park and Rec is merely following its marching orders.
Public Health hates smoking and smokers so several years ago Park and Rec banned
smoking in all playgrounds. A total ban in all city parks duly followed.
Public Health hates drinking and drinkers so they too must go. While the
alcohol ban is unlikely to be imposed at this year's Festival it will be brought
up until the free-spirited, liberal and oh so tolerant politicians who are
completely under the thumb of Public Health embrace yet one more manifestation
of intolerant prohibition.
May 1 -
Beer fights back
- Maybe some business have learned some lessons from Big Tobacco's capitulation
to anti-smoking organizations. At last year's National Beer Wholesalers
Association convention the rhetoric was satisfyingly sharp:
- There are foes poised to
destroy us. We need to fight for beer's rightful place in American
culture [and] regain what is rightfully ours.
- They are zealots. They
are ideologues. They will keep pushing and pushing and it is way past time
for the industry to fight back. We can't compromise with people who don't
want to [us] to be in business."
The Beer wholesalers know who
the enemies are pointing to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the American
Medical Association. Where Big Tobacco made its peace with the
prohibitionists, much to the detriment of its customers, beer interests may
realize that the first order of business is to destroy the mercantile interests
that profit from prohibition. |
|
Censorship
May 1 -
Journalistic icon dissed -
Jim Clifford noticed that the KCBS radio ad in Saturday's paper about winning
eight regional Edward R. Murrow Awards describes Murrow as personifying
"journalistic integrity.'' In the photo of Murrow, the cigarette has been
removed from his hand. -
Leah Garchik, San Francisco Chronicle, April 25, 2006.
Junk Science
May 1 -
Tobacco and global warming
- As the cries of doom and gloom become more lurid, the proponents of blaming
mankind for a warming world escalate their smear campaign against any and all
who question the shrill alarms. On the hit list last month is the former
president of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences and the former
President of Rockefeller University, the highly regarded New York-based research
institute.
Tool of Big Tobacco cry the smear
artists, taking a leaf from anti-tobacco's propensity to call any who disagree
with its agenda names. This article from Technology Commerce Society
deconstructions the slander and in the process strikes one more nail into the
coffin of a movement that is running out of gas.
Mental Health
May 1 -
Calling all
anti-smokers
-
We've
long maintained that anti-tobacco is a mental disorder. While our sympathy
for those who suffer from this mental disease is scant to non-existent we do
applaud those who seek to bring this aberrant people back into the brotherhood
of men. We hope that recovery is swift and that the newly sane make amends
by undoing all the harm they have wrought for the past three decades.
Health
May 1 -
Health campaigns a waste of money
-
According
to nurses health campaigns conducted by the government are a waste of time and
money. Funds would be better spent treating patients and targeting "at
risk" groups rather than running high-priced advertising pushes.
Sounds more reasonable than
flushing public money down the special interest toilet. Unfortunately the
plan of attack adopted at the conference that is the focus of this story (to see
entire article payment is required) is the same old same old.
Society must pass on the "health
related" costs to the companies (including tobacco and food ) whose products
cause the problems. Since AIDS is one of the of "problems" that isn't solved,
say the nurses, by health campaigns, it's interesting to contemplate what
company they'd sue. Manufacturers of tank tops? Weight-lifting gear? Or
maybe they could sue a lot of feminist organizations for making women so damn
angry and unattractive.
On a serious note a system of
assigning blame on lawful business enterprises for selling legal products to
consenting consumers, adults in the case of tobacco and alcohol, is nothing more
than extortion. Protection rackets and shakedowns will never lead to a
healthier society.
Understanding the obvious
May 1 -
Hookahs, a trendy new way of smoking
- The New York Times reports how collegians are discovering and enjoying tobacco
smoked through a hookah. With expected stern warnings from anti-tobacco on
the "health risks." Kids, taught to think cigarettes are "dirty" and "smelly"
are nonetheless learning the pleasures of tobacco and how well it goes with
"socializing.."
Of incidental interest, though the hookah cafes violate the bans, none have been
closed, not even by New York City's fanatical Mayor Bloomberg. Perhaps
from a desire to avoid riling Muslims, being accused of a lack of cultural
sensitivity or avoid confrontations with people who don't bow before the altar
of Public Health. | |
|
|
FORCES INTERNATIONAL (Forces, Inc.) is a
non-profit educational corporation organized under the laws of the
Commonwealth of Virginia, USA. Forces, Inc. has received a
charitable tax exemption under Internal Revenue Code 501(c)3.
Your contribution is tax deductible.
FORCES INTERNATIONAL ©
trademark, logo and original material copyright © 1995-2006 is
property of FORCES INTERNATIONAL unless otherwise indicated.
Original FORCES material may be reprinted or used in any
non-commercial form if proper credit is given to FORCES and original
intent remains intact. All other material remains property of its
creator/owner. | |
|
