November 4, 1998 - The fact that tobacco is held responsible for everything and anything is certainly not a new thing. And "If you kick that dog, everyone else will" says an old proverb.

But sometimes, even kicking the dog in sadistic company may become disgusting when excessive.

Yet, it never ends. Here are a few new gems.

This appears in the Oct. 13 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
 

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"Even small amounts of nicotine appear to cause a significant increase in the chemicals that raise blood pressure, according to a new study. Previous research has shown that smoking is linked to increased blood pressure. But University of Chicago researchers found that in frogs, minuscule amounts of Nicotine exposure caused the blood pressure to rise. The investigators studied the sympathetic nervous system in frogs, which controls involuntary functions such as regulating body temperature and blood pressure. Under normal conditions, a chemical responsible for blood pressure called lutenizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) remained at low levels in the frogs. Once exposed to small amount of nicotine, the LHRH levels shot up dramatically. 'It's shocking that such a small amount of nicotine caused a response that it usually seen only when the body is in a state of emergency,' researcher Yan-Yi Peng said in a prepared statement. Peng says because the human nervous system is similar to the frogs', small amounts of nicotine exposure may cause the same reactions in humans."

Come on! Aren't you ashamed to imply that this "shocking" effect of nicotine is similar in humans, Mr. Peng? How far is the cartel going in twisting facts, and cheating and scaring people? The hypertension observations of Mr. Peng do not apply to humans.

Serious studies performed on people -- not frogs -- clearly demonstrate that there is just a light and temporary increase in blood pressure at the time of inhalation. After that, the increase in blood pressure almost instantly disappears. Moreover, it has been noted that smokers' blood pressure is generally lower than the blood pressure of non-smokers.

The second gem we come across is pertinent to safety:
 

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NATIONAL FIRE PROTECTION ASSOCIATION STANDARDS COUNCIL to consider smoking material issue January 1999 meeting Comments due December 1, 1998 Be advised that the NFPA Standards Council is presently considering a request to establish a new project to develop a document on cigarette fire test protocol. Specifically, the Council is soliciting comments on NFPA establishing this project, and if established, assigning it to the NFPA Fire Test Committee. As additional background, such a project would establish the necessary fire test parameters that would allow legislative control on the oxidizers used in cigarette paper, and some argue that this could have a meaningful positive impact on fire death loss rates. This issue will be considered by the Council at their January 1999 meeting, and therefore comments should be received before 1 December 1998 for processing. Send comments to: NFPA Attn: Casey Grant, Standards Council Secretary 1 Battermarch Park Quincy, MA USA 02269-9101 Fax: 617-770-3500 E-mail: stds_admin@nfpa.org

So, now there is nothing better to do than try to regulate how a cigarette burns. If these people feel guilty about sucking public money through their jobs, they should turn their attention to building codes, the use of urethane (solid gasoline) all over the nation, and take care of public safety in a serious way. Instead, they find yet another ways to justify their paycheques by harassing the tobacco industry and its customers.

Cigarettes have been burned for a century without any hysteria about fires, but now -- why not? -- let's accuse smokers of being arsonists, besides being suicidal addicted, killers, polluters, bad examples, and all the rest of the crappy lies that the criminal anti-tobacco cartel mass-produces with public money.

Last but not least, a little bit of persecution for those who smoke in the car.

FORCES received letters about police harassment to people who smoke -- this time they are accused of LITTERING!

Here are two typical samples of the many letters received:
 

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" A friend of mine was on his way to work yesterday when he was cited by an L.A. Cop for dropping a cigarette butt out of his car window while waiting at a traffic light on a busy LA intersection during rush hour. He will have to appear in Court next month" And: "... Burbank is just outside L.A. and the person involved accidentally dropped the cigarette but the cop wouldn't have anything to do with that explanation, even though the cigarette had just been lit!! The fine was $250.00 for littering!"

The tiny cigarette now becomes a serious threat to the cleanliness of American cities -- otherwise absolutely safe and spotless, right?

Right! Except that most of them look like monumental public trashcans, and they are kept up with the same care. Garbage is all over, and sometimes the stench is unbearable. Not to mention the terrible atmospheric pollution, and the flying bullets, established part of the "safe, and child-protecting environment" offered by the United States.

We could choose to report these news with tongue-in-cheek humour, and in a more "politically correct" way. But the tobaccophobic North America needs a reminder of how filthy, twisted, hypocritically deviant has become -- and this anti-smoking hysteria goes beyond education by orders of magnitude.

The police that lose their fight with crime and drugs choose to issue tickets to smokers for littering. The failed school systems of Canada and USA choose to teach lies on tobacco to children, rather than imposing sound education: it's cheaper that way.

Putrid politicians like Chiles in Florida organize children in anti-tobacco rallies and appreciate them when they turn into spies against their own smoking parents. Politically rotten organizations like the Center for Disease Control in the USA include behaviour in the list of diseases as a stepping stone to further social control.

Mr. Owen, Mayor of the City of Vancouver, Canada, states that "the greatest obstacle to the protection of the citizens from criminals" is the Canadian Charter of Rights, while in the USA prison camps and forced labour are on dramatic increase. The list could go on forever.

Because of lawsuits and harassment charges, the relationship between people has become so circumspect, everything is reduced to a superficial, careful small talk -- while the real human interaction is totally lost. Employees of supermarkets are forced to "make eye contact and smile" to the customers while monitored by cameras, and entrapped by "undercover" company spies posing as customers.

Men are afraid to court women for fear of sexual harassment charges. A "wrong" joke may turn into social rejection. Insecurity, emotional suffocation and contempt for our peers are now the norm. Spontaneity and the enjoyment of the self are now a serious, dangerous sin. But we have to take care of our health -- like it or not.

If the anti-tobacco criminals need a cause, they have plenty of real ones to choose from, though they may not be as lucrative as the tobacco one. But instead, like scavengers, they thrive while tearing apart the last shreds of rotten flesh of what were once great nations.

Gian L. Turci
FORCES INTERNATIONAL