Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
 RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony
Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony
Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony
RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony
Waiting for SIPO Anthony Public Inquiry >>
Promoting Human Rights in IrelandHuman Rights in Ireland >>
News Round-Up Fri Dec 20, 2024 01:54 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
White House Covered Up Biden?s Senility From Day One of Presidency Thu Dec 19, 2024 19:00 | Will Jones
The?White House?intentionally hid from the public?Joe Biden's rapidly declining mental condition for his entire Presidency, according to a new report. This from the administration that waged war on misinformation.
The post White House Covered Up Biden’s Senility From Day One of Presidency appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Trans Landowner Sues NHS for Refusing to Carry Out Third Sex Change Surgery Thu Dec 19, 2024 17:00 | Will Jones
A?transgender?Scottish landowner who lives in a ?5m castle is suing the NHS after it refused to carry out a third sex change surgery, claiming negligence, discrimination and a breach of human rights.
The post Trans Landowner Sues NHS for Refusing to Carry Out Third Sex Change Surgery appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Factories Suffer Worst Output Since Covid as Budget Triggers Widespread Cancellations Thu Dec 19, 2024 15:00 | Will Jones
Britain?s factories cut output at the fastest rate since the Covid lockdown as Rachel Reeves?s Budget was blamed for triggering a wave of project cancellations.
The post Factories Suffer Worst Output Since Covid as Budget Triggers Widespread Cancellations appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Gavin Newsom Declares State of Emergency Over California Bird Flu Outbreak Thu Dec 19, 2024 13:00 | Will Jones
California Governor Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency over a?bird flu?outbreak in California, saying the move would allow the state to "expedite" its efforts to contain the outbreak.
The post Gavin Newsom Declares State of Emergency Over California Bird Flu Outbreak appeared first on The Daily Sceptic. Lockdown Skeptics >>
Voltaire, international edition
How Washington and Ankara Changed the Regime in Damascus , by Thierry Meyssan Tue Dec 17, 2024 06:58 | en
Statement by President Bashar al-Assad on the Circumstances Leading to his Depar... Mon Dec 16, 2024 13:26 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N?112 Fri Dec 13, 2024 15:34 | en
Israel Passes Law Allowing Four-Year Detention Without Trial or Evidence Fri Dec 13, 2024 15:27 | en
Jihadist Mohammed al-Bashir, new Syrian Prime Minister Fri Dec 13, 2024 15:24 | en Voltaire Network >>
|
Support Corporate Crime
 national |
consumer issues |
opinion/analysis
 Tuesday March 30, 2004 02:54 by Watchdog
Oppose use of natural plants.
As the Prohibition of Marijuana was done for the benefit of health-damaging industries like logging, pulp, chlorine, pesticides, petrochemical plastics, big pharma and the like, so too is the virtually inevitable Prohibition of Tobacco. Those who like the idea of another Prohibition, please step to the front of the "anti-smoking" crusade. This will be to just ask some questions.
* Why do those who elsewhere fight the harms of pesticide and other chemical industries IGNORE those same industries, even the same specific firms, for their part in cigarettes? Pub proprietors will be fined, arrested, and put out of business for allowing "smoking", but Dow, DuPont, BASF, Uniroyal, Shell, and the rest won't even be embarrassed for their KNOWN toxic/carcinogenic, and unlisted cigarette adulterants.
* In Ireland, have gov't officials who work for the Smoke Ban been checked to see if they are economically linked to parts of the cig industry that dearly hope to remain Out Of The Picture? This refers to oil/pharm firms that make tobacco pesticides, chlorine firms that supply the materials for pesticides and the cig paper bleach, paper firms that supply the bleached paper, ag biz firms that supply so many non-tobacco cig additives, and so forth. If they were economically linked to Insurance Firms that have investment holdings in cigs and cig suppliers, would that be acceptable as they work to pass blame and burdens of law onto Publicans and their customers?
* If health is the issue (as they say), why aren't the KNOWN health damaging non-tobacco parts of typical cigs Long GONE? They aren't even mentioned.
* Ireland signed the POPs Treaty...to globally eliminate chlorine's by-product, dioxin (and 11 of the other top worst industrial pollutants). Why then is dioxin STILL allowed in cigarette smoke due to the CONTINUED tolerance of chlorine cig contaminants?
* If Dioxin is so bad, why is there no Warning Label about it on cig packages? (We know why. It would indict those who LET it be there.)
* It's said that "tobacco smoke" is harmful. How then is it that NO STUDIES of tobacco smoke (as opposed to ADULTERATED tobacco smoke) have been presented?
* Has anyone noticed that the word "smoking" puts blame on the victims, the ones doing the smoking...and that it IGNORES Manufacturing Processes, where the untested and known deadly stuff is made into an undefined, unlabeled "cigarette"?
* Has anyone noticed that the well-known effects of dioxin are virtually IDENTICAL to what are called (by corporate entities) "smoking-related illnesses". Has anyone noticed that NO PLANT, tobacco or other, is capable of such effects? Why, then, is tobacco the focus? Rhetorical question.
* Do we WANT another Prohibition of yet another natural, smokeable, traditionally-used public domain plant?
* Why does the World Trade Org. push for smoke bans? It does NOT push for getting the known deadly industrial stuff OUT of cigarettes, nor does it even call for listing of these things. And, of course, it doesn't ask that a single unwitting, unprotected, insufficiently-warned consumer be compensated.
* And...is a side-"benefit" here something about reducing Pub patronage?...a stealth war on alcohol...an echo of a former, ill-fated Prohibition. Has Talibanism become a global plague?
* Do folks believe that the Corporatocracy cares about ANYONE's health? Pub workers respiratory health seems to be more of an urgent issue than the LIVES of untold thousands of Iraqis and Afghanis and so forth.
* Is it not interesting that OTHER work-place dangers are not included in this "clean air" program? How can a law be legitimate unless the other things are eliminated too? What about auto-exhaust in shops and parking garages, welding fumes, copy-machine fumes, paints/solvents/varnishes/ lacquers/disinfectants/pesticides...and etc?
What about candles, cooking smoke and CHURCH INCENSE?
Save an altar boy. Say NO to Incense!
|
printable version
Digg this
del.icio.us
Furl
Reddit
Technorati
Facebook
Gab
Twitter
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (4 of 4)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4Fair point but my understanding is that it is still legal to smoke 'herbal' cigarettes in pubs. If, because of the amount of chemicals in over the counter cigarettes they are far removed from natural tobacco leaves then maybe smoking pure tobacco might not be illegal.
Give it a go and let us know how you get on
It's not that anything ought be REMOVED from tobacco leaves, it's that the cig makers must not PUT stuff there in the first place.
Not one tobacco adulterant has been tested alone or in combination. Many adulterants are KNOWN to be harmful alone and in combinations or when burned. This makes smokers nothing less than murder victims, victims of attempted murder, and Guinea pigs who gave no Informed Consent to be thusly experimented upon.
Third Reich leaders were executed for experimenting on subjects without such consent. Nuremberg Principles forbid the practice. Cigarette makers and their government allies may be ignorant of the law...but that's not an excuse.
One would think that the perpetrators would be the ones feeling burdens of law ...but in the "smoking" case, the victims will be hit with fines and arrests.
Organic tobacco is already available....but STUDIES of real or expected health effects of it have not been presented. Regular cigs would likely NOT compare well...so, to protect the cig firms AND their many ingredients/contaminants suppliers, no comparative studies are brought out.
It would be like comparing a campfire to an industrial incinerator.
Of course the government aren't really that interested in taking on the tobacco industry. They implemented this as studies showed them it would be popular and because it cost nothing. The tobacco industry obviously opposed it, but it wasn't that costly to them and they aren't a real force in Ireland anyway. A relatively painless way of gaining popularity and the appearance of principle.
However, don't be a fool, of course tobacco is harmful. Anybody who doesn't realise that inhaling any type of smoke into their lungs is harmful, is kidding themselves. Our lungs, although hardy, have evolved to inhale a certain mix of gases and adding a whole load of dense smoke to the mix doesn't help in the long run.
Inhaling natural smoke from plain tobacco...as has been done for over 10,000 years...is one thing. But when certain corporate interests secretly put untested and even known non-tobacco stuff into cigs, still call it "tobacco", then evade the consequences for the inevitable health calamaties, that is Quite Another Thing.
Swimming, for instance poses risks (as does any smoke)...but if a business secretly put sharks and nuclear waste into their pool, then just "warned" folks that "swimming is dangerous", that business has committed a crime and is responsible for deaths/injuries.
I have little interest in taking Mother Nature to court for her Tobacco Smoke...but we damn well ought take Big Cig to court for what it did to tobacco...and millions of smokers.