The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights Newsletter: Issue # 334

The United Pro Choice Smokers
Rights Newsletter

June 24, 2005 Issue #334

"Hate is like acid. It can damage the vessel in which it is stored as well as destroy the object on which it is poured." - Ann Landers

THE ANTI-TOBACCO RECIPE FOR SUCCESS
1. Choose an industry
2. Regulate the industry.
3. Tax the industry.
4. Sue the industry.
When one source of money dries up, return to Step 1 and repeat.
By Samantha Phillipe

Smoking FDA Regulation. By Chuck Muth. And please don't trot out that old "general welfare" clause. Everyone knows this is decidedly NOT what the Founders intended by the phrase "general welfare." And if you do this to cigarettes, what's next? Flavored soft-drinks? Snickers? Big Macs? Extra Crispy? Once you start down this slippery slope, where does it end?

Soda Update. By Michael J. McFadden. Perhaps RICO should now be applied against Big Soda and Big Food! Since only a quarter of the population smokes while EVERYONE eats, we could go for four times the prize: a cool trillion! Of course, just as with tobacco, the companies wouldn't have to pay: they could simply pass on the cost to consumers, the price of food would double or triple, and everyone would eat less and be healthier!

Consumer group wants warning label on potato chips. The Environmental Law Foundation filed notices with the Golden State's attorney general on Thursday against Lay's potato chip maker PepsiCo Inc., Pringles maker Procter & Gamble Co., Cape Cod potato chip parent Lance Inc. and Kettle Chips maker Kettle Foods Inc.

Rosemary extract could make cooked meat safer. By Alison McCook. He added that the study was funded by the Food Safety Consortium.

'You Can Relax About Food and Eat What You Want' By Sandy Szwarc. After this recent body of evidence, now we know the real story.

A coverup for a cause of Autism? RFK Jr. explans how ingredient in vaccines may have contributed to spread.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Update. Shades of tobacco control tactics!

Restricting Cold Medicine Won't Curb Meth Use. By Radley Balko. If Talent and Feinstein get their way, it will soon be impossible to buy common cold and allergy medication containing pseudoephedrine at stores that don’t have pharmacies. At stores that do, you’ll be asked to present identification and sign a registry, which will be monitored.

Drug-company Marketing. Doctors “just say no” to drug company hype and freebies. “A few [patients] are receptive, but most of them aren’t,” says Bonomo. “They get frustrated. ‘But it was on TV, so it must be true.’”

UK Blanket ban on smoking in public is denied. Smoking would still be allowed in pubs which did not serve food, and in private clubs - subject to the agreement of members.

DC Bill To Ban Booze. Lawmaker Takes Smoking Ban to New Level. "I never thought I could ban drinking just because I didn't like it, but now I know I can," Schwartz said. "The impending smoking ban has empowered me."

We Are Everyday People:

The American Cancer Society Apparently Missed This One. Fortunately Norman Kjono has heard of this study and is willing to explain how it, along with the verdict in Scotland that found no proof that primary smoking causes lung cancer, presents a serious problem for the mythology developed by the tobacco control industry.

Maine Pastor: Smoking cigarettes is not the unpardonable sin! Even if the Baldacci/Hastings deviant crowd say so. Your salvation is your responsibility, you are not going to hell for smoking, you will definitely go to hell if you reject Christ.

Hide Cigars. By Tom Purcell. My friend was terrified his daughter would find out. I’m so puzzled by the matter, I’m going to mull it over while enjoying a nice fat cigar.

From The Mailbag:

AL:   Smoke in their eyes. By Ted Roberts. Let market forces, not local politicians, make the call.
AZ:   Flagstaff Property Rights Up in Smoke. By Damon Chetson - Goldwater Institute.
AZ: Smoking bans are the 'real' threat to Democracy.
DC: Tobacco Suit Remedy. By Tasia Scolinos, Director of Public Affairs, Department of Justice.
FL: Castaways Backwater Cafe Sues Over Ban. The state has 60 days to respond.
GA: Georgia Law Offers Restaurants a Choice: Ban Cigarettes or Kids.
LA: Reaction mixed on smoking ban in Mandeville. Smoking ban in limbo.
ME: Aren't smokers sick and tired of carrying the weight of the state budgets yet?
MN: Ventilation not Legislation.
MO: Health alliance to push for vote on tobacco tax.
MO: Smoking bill is coming in St. Louis County.
NY:   Westchester County Launches Tobacco ABS.
NY: RJR Wins Suit. A Nassau judge threw out Long Island's first tobacco lawsuit Monday, saying there was no proof the plaintiff's cancer was caused by the cigarette company she was suing.
NY: Council looks to smoke out false 311 complaints. The problem also has bar and restaurant owners fuming.
OH: Newark Voters won't see smoking ban on ballot.
OH: Lawmakers raid tobacco fund. $216 million earmarked for health programs will go toward building schools.
RI: McCoy Stadium. When you do change your policy it would be a public service to announce it so that those who stay away from the games will then return.
TN: Garage Door Ban. Is there nothing busy-body elected officials won't try to control in the daily lives of free citizens? Apparently not in Franklin.
TN: Gov. Bredesen Vetoes R.J. Reynolds Sponsored Equity Fee Legislation That Hurt Small Companies and Endangered State MSA Tobacco Money.
TX: Arlington. Condo pool smoking ban?
TX: Gov Tax Talk. Enough is Enough.
WV: Wheeling Defiance. Ohio delegate says he will ignore indoor smoking ban.
Japan: Court throws out tobacco suit, sees no definite link with cancer
Canada: Bar owner faces fine. A Carberry bar owner who protested the province's smoking ban by dumping dozens of ashtrays on the steps of the legislature last fall...
The Canadian Smokers Rights Newsletter. All the Canada news.