[Vision2020] "Please do not continue to confuse people with facts."

Fri Jul 24 09:11:36 PDT 2009

It would seem that you, Mr. Moffet, and our city council have a mighty low opinion of the intelligence of the patrons and employees of bars and taverns. I can't speak for your students but, I find it very difficult to believe that by the time a citizen reaches the age of 21 in the United States he hasn't heard the anti-smoking mantra to the point of nausea.

How lucky we are that there are people out there who will take it upon themselves to prevent emancipated Americans from making their own decisions with regard to the risks they take in life.

g
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: TIM RIGSBY 
  To: starbliss at gmail.com ; vision2020 at moscow.com 
  Sent: Friday, July 24, 2009 7:47 AM
  Subject: Re: [Vision2020] "Please do not continue to confuse people with facts."

  I would like to add the idea of this saying,

  "Don't let the facts get in the way of a good story."

  Either way Ted, you brought up some very valid points that tend to be forgotten when people discuss tobacco/smoking regulation and legislation.  What scares me as a Health Teacher is when I hear my junior high and high school aged students talking about how safe, they think anyway, Hookah bars are.  When asked if they would ever smoke cigarettes, they claim that they won't.  Yet what these students don't realize is that they are actually smoking tobacco at the high school hookah parties.  What is even scarier is a lot of the parents think that hookah is a safe alternative as well.  

  The hookah bar closest to my house in Boise is constantly packed with young people all of the time.  Often times, other substances are being laced into the tobacco as well and these young people are unknowingly smoking illegal drugs along with their fruit and tobacco mixture.

  I predict in the not so distant future, Boise and possibly the State Legislature will enact legislation to regulate/control these hookah establishments.

  Here is a question to ponder.  By definition based on Idaho Code, what is a hookah bar categorized as?  A restaurant, a bar, a private club?  If it falls under the bar definition, then people under 21 should not be allowed in.  It seems as though hookah bars would fall into an undefined gray area of the Idaho Clean Indoor Air Act.  However, Moscow seems to have covered hookah bars in their recent ban of smoking, I could be wrong though.

  " 'Politics is the art of controlling your environment.' That is one of the key things I learned in these years, and I learned it the hard way. Anybody who thinks that 'it doesn't matter who's President' has never been Drafted and sent off to fight and die in a vicious, stupid War on the other side of the World -- or been beaten and gassed by Police for trespassing on public property -- or been hounded by the IRS for purely political reasons -- or locked up in the Cook County Jail with a broken nose and no phone access and twelve perverts wanting to stomp your ass in the shower. That is when it matters who is President or Governor or Police Chief. That is when you will wish you had voted." - Hunter S. Thompson

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  Date: Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:39:45 -0700
  From: starbliss at gmail.com
  To: vision2020 at moscow.com
  Subject: [Vision2020] "Please do not continue to confuse people with facts."

  The "Off List" response referenced, from someone I regard as one of the most educated and honest Vision2020 participants, that I received to my post below on tobacco regulation, is in total what is stated in the subject heading of this post.  Wise words, no doubt, that I ignore at my own risk... 

  Notice there is limited or no discussion of some of the critical facts my post presented: that tobacco (nicotine) is a physically addictive drug, with underage tobacco addiction common, raising questions if whether adult "choice" is in effect regarding employees or consumers in tobacco related decisions; that tobacco is the leading cause of premature death (nuclear waste or energy or even nuclear weapons production is not even close as a cause of premature death); that other drugs doing less harm to society than tobacco are criminalized and prosecuted aggressively, involving civil and human rights violations, yet who among those opposing regulation of tobacco, will as aggressively advocate for these drugs to be managed by free choice and the marketplace, rather than a government "Big Brother?"  Some, perhaps... While there are others who should know better playing some on this list as fools, for the sake of debate, or political advantage, or popular image or whatever... Or they are as deluded as those they are debating with...

  My response to the "Off List" comment discussed here:

  Ummm... OK, I guess... However, being an idealist in belief that expressing the truth is morally mandated (where did I get that dangerous idea?  I''ll end up in serious trouble!  Oh, I forgot, I already am...), I may not comply.  I recently read a variation of this same expression in James Lovelock's "Revenge of Gaia:" "Don't confuse me with the facts, my minds made up."  Lovelock was referring to this mentality regarding the rejection of nuclear power by many in the environmental movement.

  Ted

    Please do not continue to confuse people with facts. 
      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: Ted Moffett 
      To: Moscow Vision 2020 
      Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 1:55 AM
      Subject: [Vision2020] Tobacco: Targeting the Nation’s Leading Killer: Centers for Disease Control

      Tobacco (nicotine) is a physically addictive drug.  Once addicted, "choice" becomes a problematic concept.  And many people become addicted while underage, encouraged to continue their addiction in bars, where cigarettes are often shared between customers.  

      The fact tobacco is physically addictive is absent from the comments of many opposing the smoking ordinance, as are the facts regarding the magnitude of the damage.  Comparisons to other harmful behaviors are drawn (fatty food, etc.), suggesting that a slippery slope of regulation will lead to government control over too many aspects of life, but many of these behaviors do not involve a drug addiction.  Of course alcohol has dramatic negative impacts.  But workers in bars are not forced to drink the drinks the customers order, as they breathe the smoke of the customers.  

      I find it incredible that the health of workers exposed to an addictive drug when they breathe in the workplace is approached so callously.  They can work elsewhere, it's announced with smug authority, as if in this economy workers have the luxury of choosing whatever job suits their fancy, rather than an urgency to take whatever work they can find.  If it was cocaine or heroin or methamphetamine that workers were exposed to, the attitude might be different.  

      Profits from exposing workers to addictive drugs in the workplace should be protected based on free market, free choice, adult responsibility?  If this is the logic, where are the protests against laws imposed on those selling cocaine, heroin or methamphetamine, et. al., to consenting adults, which can result in long prison sentences?  Let the free market decide!  Why stand in the way of profits and the free choice of adults?  

      If those opposing the smoking ordinance were consistent in their outrage against limits on the free market, their ideology might have more intellectual credibility.  Instead, the libertarianism proposed is inconsistent and conformist.  Or perhaps those opposed to the smoking ordinance will now protest that bars do not allow legal cocaine, heroin or methamphetamine use?  Think of the profits to be made!  And remember, tobacco prematurely kills more people than those three drugs combined...

      If attempts were made to criminalize tobacco like cannabis is, resulting in prison sentences, home invasions, for sale or use, I would oppose this vehemently.  But an ordinance regulating smoking in bars does not stop any adult from legally using tobacco products in settings where they do not expose workers.

      If worker freedom of choice was a valid argument to justify the exposure of workers to tobacco smoke in bars, than OSHA could be mostly eliminated.  After all, if workers exposed to hazards monitored or banned by OSHA don't want to work with those risks, they can work elsewhere, as long as signs posted in the workplace inform them of the risks.  A "Big Brother" government bureaucracy gone.  
      --------------------------
      http://www.cdc.gov/NCCDPHP/publications/aag/osh.htm
      The Burden of Tobacco Use
      Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States. Each year, an estimated 443,000 people die prematurely from smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke, and another 8.6 million have a serious illness caused by smoking. For every person who dies from smoking, 20 more people suffer from at least one serious tobacco-related illness. Despite these risks, approximately 43.4 million U.S. adults smoke cigarettes. Smokeless tobacco, cigars, and pipes also have deadly consequences, including lung, larynx, esophageal, and oral cancers.
      The harmful effects of smoking do not end with the smoker. More than 126 million nonsmoking Americans, including children and adults, are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke. Even brief exposure can be dangerous because nonsmokers inhale many of the same carcinogens and toxins in cigarette smoke as smokers. Secondhand smoke exposure causes serious disease and death, including heart disease and lung cancer in nonsmoking adults and sudden infant death syndrome, acute respiratory infections, ear problems, and more frequent and severe asthma attacks in children. Each year, primarily because of exposure to secondhand smoke, an estimated 3,000 nonsmoking Americans die of lung cancer, more than 46,000 (range: 22,700–69,600) die of heart disease, and about 150,000–300,000 children younger than 18 months have lower respiratory tract infections.
      Coupled with this enormous health toll is the significant economic burden of tobacco use—more than $96 billion per year in medical expenditures and another $97 billion per year resulting from lost productivity.

      [A text description of this graph is also available.]

      The Tobacco Use Epidemic Can Be Stopped
      A 2007 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report presented a blueprint for action to “reduce smoking so substantially that it is no longer a public health problem for our nation.” The two-pronged strategy for achieving this goal includes not only strengthening and fully implementing currently proven tobacco control measures, but also changing the regulatory landscape to permit policy innovations. Foremost among the IOM recommendations is that each state should fund a comprehensive tobacco control program at the level recommended by CDC in Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs–2007.
      Evidence-based, statewide tobacco control programs that are comprehensive, sustained, and accountable have been shown to reduce smoking rates, tobacco-related deaths, and diseases caused by smoking. A comprehensive program is a coordinated effort to establish smoke-free policies and social norms, to promote and assist tobacco users to quit, and to prevent initiation of tobacco use. This approach combines educational, clinical, regulatory, economic, and social strategies.
      Research has documented the effectiveness of laws and policies to protect the public from secondhand smoke exposure, promote cessation, and prevent initiation when they are applied in a comprehensive way. For example, states can increase the unit price of tobacco products; implement smoking bans through policies, regulations, and laws; provide insurance coverage of tobacco use treatment; and limit minors’ access to tobacco products.
      If the nation is to achieve the objectives outlined in Healthy People 2010, comprehensive, evidence-based approaches for preventing smoking initiation and increasing cessation need to be fully implemented.

      CDC's Response
      CDC is the lead federal agency for tobacco control. CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health (OSH) provides national leadership for a comprehensive, broad-based approach to reducing tobacco use. A variety of government agencies, professional and voluntary organizations, and academic institutions have joined together to advance this approach, which involves the following activities:

        a.. Preventing young people from starting to smoke.

        b.. Eliminating exposure to secondhand smoke.

        c.. Promoting quitting among young people and adults.

        d.. Identifying and eliminating tobacco-related health disparities. 
      Essential elements of this approach include state-based, community-based, and health system-based interventions; cessation services; counter marketing; policy development and implementation; surveillance; and evaluation. These activities target groups who are at highest risk for tobacco-related health problems.
      -------------------------------------------
      Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett

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