|
CONTENTS
1. Project Vote Smart
2. Chemical In Tobacco Smoke May Protect Against Parkinson's
3. Smokers' Anti-Defamation League
4. B.C.'s Top Court Backs Pubs In Smoking Fight
5. Larger Implications of the Tobacco Settlement
6. State-Specific Prevalence of Selected Health Behaviors, by Race and Ethnicity
7. How Can There Be So Much Smoke With Nothing Burning?
8. We Are Everyday People
9. From The Mailbag
|
"My advice is: Don't flush the toilet when your dad's in the shower."
Lamar, age 10
Project Vote Smart:
Voter Registration information for your state. How to register, election dates and local election offices' phone numbers.
Chemical In Tobacco Smoke May Protect Against Parkinson's:
Without sufficient dopamine, people develop the tremors and jerky movements characteristic of Parkinson's disease. The new research suggests that cigarette smoking probably keeps dopamine levels higher than they would otherwise be. What's more, separate studies at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York, confirm that smokers have lower levels of the enzyme than nonsmokers. The smokers' brain chemistry essentially mimics those of nonsmokers taking MAO inhibitors, one of the first treatments ever discovered for depression.
Smokers' Anti-Defamation League:
Letter to The Solicitor General of Canada. "I want to know how to go about starting investigations for Hate Crimes
against the Minister of Health (Allan Rock) and anti-smoking groups."
B.C.'s Top Court Backs Pubs In Smoking Fight:
The British Columbia Supreme Court has come down on the side of smokers in the province's tobacco war. In a decision Wednesday, the court decided in favour of the Hotel and Pub Owners Association in a dispute involving smoking in public places. The court ruled that the Workers Compensation Board acted improperly when it introduced non-smoking regulations.
Also see: B.C. Supreme Court throws out restaurant smoking ban.
And: Heroin or alcohol
|
|
Larger Implications of the Tobacco Settlement:
By Robert A. Levy, Ph.D., J.D. Improved health for our children is an objective that no reasonable person could disapprove. But make no mistake, dollars and cents - not health issues - are the driving force behind the tobacco settlement.
State-Specific Prevalence of Selected Health Behaviors, by Race and Ethnicity:
-- Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 1997. In the United States, disparities in risks for chronic disease (e.g., diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer) and injury exist among racial and ethnic groups. This report summarizes findings from the 1997 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) of the distribution of access to health care, health-status indicators, health-risk behaviors, and use of clinical preventive services across five racial and ethnic groups (i.e., whites, blacks, Hispanics, American Indians or Alaska Natives, and Asians or Pacific Islanders) and by state.
How Can There Be So Much Smoke With Nothing Burning?:
It is a well known phenomenon that many people are content with making a symbolic, "feel good", contribution. They don't really care if it is effective or not. If that is your case, then the rest of this paper will not interest you. But if you would truly like to see a change, then here are some suggestions.
We Are Everyday People:
Declaration Recitation? It's The Least We Can Do:
Today, the Declaration is as controversial as it is unfamiliar. And yet recent efforts by courageous state lawmakers in Arizona, Utah and New Jersey to remedy the problem and restore America's founding principles to their rightful authority have met tremendous opposition. Why?
Bio-Engineered Foods Cause Concern:
Changing the genetic structure of food makes some people pause, at least for a moment, to wonder if it's a good thing. Words like "mutant" may come to mind while organizers of Bio 2000, say "lifesaving" and "plentiful" should be on your lips.
--------------------
Dear God,
Why didn't you save the school children in Littleton, Colorado?
Sincerely,
Concerned Student
AND THE REPLY...
Dear C.S.
I am not allowed in schools.
Love, God
|
|
Smokin' Dave's Taxicab Diaries:
Back, in your face, and cooler than ever. Including stories about a buggy hack that wouldn't budge, a cabbie who refused to ride a blind woman and her guide dog, and proof that some of us really are angels.
Smokers of Ontario & Canada World:
All smokers are welcome to voice their complaints, concerns and feelings here.
Nail Bacteria Linked to Baby Deaths:
Bacteria found under the long fingernails of two nurses may have contributed to the deaths of 16 sickly babies in 1997 and 1998 in an Oklahoma City hospital, researchers say.
From The Mailbag:
The Individual Choice and Liberty Seminar
Prof. Richard Wagner, the well-known Public Choice economist, will be presenting a paper at the April 14 session of the Individual Choices and Liberty Seminar. Entitled "Tobacco Prohibition, Civil Warfare, and the Logic of Social Democracy."
-----------------
The Tobacco Products Liability Project, led by Law professor Richard A. Daynard, will hold a conference on June 3rd at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts to analyze scenarios in which tobacco companies might file for bankruptcy. Themes to be discussed will include the forces supposedly driving companies toward such an option and how much they could pay toward legal obligations under such a scenario (PR Newswire).
-----------------
Brown Williamson Tobacco Corp. cut its list price on discount brands GPC and Viceroy by $5 per carton. Bernstein Research analysts warned that a response in kind by RJR could eventually impact the premium segment, causing "MO to respond with higher buy-downs on Marlboro." (Bernstein Research)
-----------------
Virginia Tech researchers believe a tobacco compound makes smokers less susceptible to Parkinson's disease by slowing the loss of brain chemicals that the disease saps (Reuters 3/27).
|
|
