Tobacco.org

GUTFELD: Beware Third-Hand Smoke and Junk Science  

So here's another example of how junk science has become even junkier than something really junky:

Researchers have identified "third-hand smoke," an invisible evil that acts like a deadly Ghost of Cigarettes Past: Polluting the air, killing innocent babies and ottomans -- even if they aren't present at the time.

As you can guess, this research is geared toward one end only: The banning of all smoking on private property -- including your home. . . .

But get this: After saying that a smoker's third-hand smoke is bad for babies, the researchers then note that for a smoker, breastfeeding a baby is still better than bottle-feeding. So after all this crap about poisoning the air, they're saying breast milk from a smoker is still better than milk from a bottle. Theoretically, a smoking mom that breastfeeds is a better mom, than a non-smoking bottle-feeder.

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INGRAM: County is proud to uphold smoking ban 

As health commissioner for Hamilton County, I support the smoking ban and am proud to say that our efforts to protect workers from the hazards of secondhand smoke are effective.

In December of 2008 complaints were down 40 percent compared with December of 2007. Of the nearly 2,100 restaurants, bars and other facilities licensed by Hamilton County Public Health, only 3 percent have been found in violation.

Since May 2007, when enforcement of Smoke-Free Ohio began, Hamilton County Public Health has received 746 complaints, conducted 739 investigations and issued 190 violations.

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• RAILEY: Ex-smoker likes second-hand smoke, first-hand memories 

Like so many other North Carolinians, I'm ambivalent about tobacco. It's helped build churches, hospitals and colleges in this state, and it's put many a student through those colleges. It helped build Winston-Salem and many other North Carolina towns.

David Payne, who grew up in Henderson, eloquently summed that up in his 1993 novel Ruin Creek. A young doctor tells the elderly owner of a tobacco warehouse in fictional Killdeer, N.C., to quit smoking. The old man tells a friend, "if tobacco's wrong, then this whole town's wrong … 'cause every store and house and church in Killdeer came from it … Every dollar was a leaf of bright tobacco first and grew right from the ground. ..."

True that. And adults can still choose whether they want to smoke. I'll never condemn it. Heck, I still love the smell of second-hand smoke once in a while. I can sympathize with President-elect Obama's battle to quit smoking.

I started at 16. . . .

I loved smoking a cigar while walking my dog. I loved the taste of cigarettes with beer.

I miss smoking. I envy the people who still enjoy it. It's still a way of life here. But it's a way of life that's rapidly changing as farmers go out of business and Big Tobacco keeps getting pummeled.

In a few generations, smoking will be a distant memory. But for now, I still like a whiff of second-hand smoke now and then.

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TRICE: Tribune writers' New Year's resolutions for 2009  

I know that smoking is one of the hardest addictions to break. Still, my New Year's resolution is for President-elect Barack Obama to try once again to kick the habit.

In a February, 2007 interview with CBS's "60 Minutes," Michelle Obama said that she wouldn't allow her fear of her husband being shot to prevent him from running for president. "As a black man, you know, Barack can get shot going to the gas station," she said.

Well, "as a black man" his risk of dying from lung cancer is all too real.

The American Lung Association says that in 2006, 27 percent of black men smoked compared to 24 percent of white men.

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GUY: Don't make smokers suffer even more with higher state tax  

The Florida tobacco tax currently is 34 cents a pack, which doesn't sound like much, but don't let that deceive you. Smokers also pay a 39 cent federal tax, along with a hidden tax disguised as exorbitant prices. The steep cost of cigarettes is the result of legal settlements with tobacco companies that brought billions of dollars into state coffers.

The alleged goal of tobacco lawsuits a decade ago was to win reimbursement for the money states paid out in smoking-related medical costs. Along the way, the lawsuits turned some multimillionaire attorneys into mega-multimillionaires, as state attorneys generals worked in cahoots with private law firms. . . .

The state-initiated lawsuits represented possibly the biggest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich since the days of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and look what happened to them.

There are several interests that would cheer an increase in Florida's tobacco tax. Among them are the Seminole and Miccosukee tribes, which would see their sales of tax-free cigarettes rise appreciably.

Organized crime also would benefit. Cigarette smuggling already is a problem. Years ago, a New York official says it was more profitable to hijack a truck loaded with cigarettes than a Brink's truck.

Given these tough economic times, don't add to the burden of police, or to the financial burdens of the state's tobacco addicts, by raising the cigarette tax.

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DEAR ABBY: Happy relationship threatens to go up in smoke 

DEAR ABBY: Happy relationship threatens to go up in smoke 

DEAR ABBY: Man disgusted by girlfriend's new habit  

My girlfriend, "Jasmine," has been seeing a therapist to deal with serious depression and anxiety issues, and I think she has done well for the most part.

I am just upset that she has taken to smoking with her co-workers to deal with stress. My mother smokes, and I find it disgusting.

We have discussed this more than once, and she insists that my asking her to stop is "being controlling." . . .

People who reach for a cigarette when they are feeling stressed regard the cigarette as a "friend" they can hold onto. What they don't realize is the cigarette is holding onto THEM -- and occasional smokers become dependent not only on the ritual but also the "drug."

You have a hard choice to make, and so does Jasmine. Perhaps it will be easier if Jasmine does the choosing. Tell her that if you smell tobacco on her hair, skin, breath or clothing, you won't kiss her. If she hasn't quit smoking within 30 days, you'll have your answer.

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ENGEL: Outside Edge: How our pubs have run out of puff 

The more laws governments pass, the more they are subject to the oldest law of all: the law of unintended consequences. And smoking bans are having bizarre consequences across the world. . . .

In Britain, where smoking in enclosed public places became totally illegal in 2007, beer sales are down by 10 per cent; analysts attribute half of that to the smoking law. Pubs are now closing at a record rate of 36 a week. . . .

There are similar reports from Ireland, where the broadcaster Gerry Anderson said bars now had the atmosphere of a dentist’s waiting room. In France, more than 500 of the 40,000 cafés and bars disappeared last year. Again, the ban is largely blamed. And in France, the climate is more conducive to sitting outside with a Ricard and a Gauloise.

Latest figures suggest there has been no effect at all on tobacco consumption in Britain or Ireland. And anecdotal evidence is that kids are now staying out of pubs, heading for any open spaces they can find, getting bladdered on cheap supermarket lager and smoking their heads off.

When the ban came in, all the non-smokers twittered about how they could now safely visit all the lovely smoke-free pubs. And did they? Did they heck!

I hardly ever smoked in pubs myself. Nor does anyone else now. They do not drink in them either. Brilliant.

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BARRY: No shortage of Christmas nuts – they were all busy smoking  

But, the politicians thought their ban would make Scotland's puffers instantly relinquish the habit, that by now, smokers would be a dying breed, so to speak.

However, there is only one way in which this country's smokers are a dying breed - something to do with the coughing - as well as the coffin they carry them off in.

My sympathy is running out.

If you want to commit suicide, there are quicker, less painful ways. And, I think we all know now that SMOKING KILLS. . . .

On Christmas Day, they looked downright nuts.

The view was the same through so many of Scotland's kitchen windows: mums and grannies slaving over a hot stove, while, outside, hovering in the freezing fog and ice, some mad aunt or uncle, brother or sister, scantily dressed - hands shaking - desperately tried to light up in the dark.

It had to be Christmas Day's most bizarre sight. . . .

You may remember, back in 2004, the health secretary at the time, Dr John Reid, said that sometimes the only enjoyment available to a 21-year-old single mother of three living in a sink estate was to have a fly fag.

In an aside worthy of Marie Antoinette, Dr Reid said: "Let them smoke cigarettes." . . .

The only time these patients removed those masks, believe it or not - and I still can't - was to go out to a special room to smoke a cigarette; such was the power of their addiction.

Now, all they have to do, is go out into the freezing night and light up. We need to do better than bans.

Ministers have to consider the bad news, namely, that 99% of people who give up smoking put on weight.

And what is the biggest cause of heart disease in Scotland next to smoking? Yes, obesity.

And doctors say that ex-smokers who put on weight often revert to cigarettes. The bad news is they don't lose the weight, so they end up fat smokers.

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ANNIE CUTLER: PUT THE CIGARETTES OUT 

Utah's Indoor Clean Air Act in now in effect - banning smoking inside Utah's bars and clubs. If you frequent those bars and clubs, you'll no longer have to worry about all that second hand smoke, which health experts claim is even worse than if you were to smoke the cigarette yourself.

I'm a California girl and have been spoiled by smoke-free bars. I am very excited to know that I can spend a night out with friends and not come home with every inch of me (hair is the worse) smelling like smoke.

I completely agree with smokers that cigarettes are not illegal and shouldn't be treated as such. I have no problems with smokers. I just don't want to have to breathe the smoke in, and when I'm sitting inside a bar with poor circulation, I am forced to.

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BADER: Smoking: A colder world in 2009  

For the rest of us there are places such as the Horse Brass. So forcing a business to disallow smoking? Un-American, we agree. So we talk, and we smoke, and we think. It's a different dynamic than going outside to smoke, shivering, feeling disconnected. The smoking ban means one more pleasure denied in this expensive, elitist world. It's hypocritical and an abuse of State power. "There's a place where the Nanny has no place", I say, "and it's called a pub."

We stub out our cigarettes, finish our beers, and step out of our favorite place into a soon to be colder world. Call it fear and loathing at the end of '08.

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Smokers, fight back by avoiding the lottery 

Please, don't punish the bars financially. Instead of playing the machines (from which the bar gets a portion of the revenue), spend your money on a meal from the bar . . .

For those of you who favor the social engineering of this ban, I will cede you this: you've probably won. If fact, you've certainly won the culture war against smoking in general. And my idea is a long shot. But let's try it. After all, the proverbial oil afforded to we squeaky wheels could literally keep us from being left out in the cold!

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SNYDER: Raise a glass to the smoking ban 

As one of those obligated to breathe air, I prefer mine without cancer-causing toxic chemicals such as secondhand cigarette smoke. . . .

While bartender Jacob Grier ("In My Opinion", Dec. 30, 2008) sarcastically derides Oregon's new statewide smoking ban that goes into effect following the New Year, I am one of those people who is thrilled to be able to attend bars and not encounter smoke, and plan spend more of my money in those places in the future. And don't worry, Jacob, I'll be leaving generous tips.

Somehow Mr. Grier seems to think that the dangers associated with secondhand smoke as a bartender are comparable to a wide variety of other job-related risks, including pumping gas, driving a commercial vehicle, or crab fishing. C'mon, this is ridiculous! . . .

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Smoking harms health, friendship 

Dear Wheezing: You have already explained your health problems to your friends, and they either don't completely believe you or are letting their addiction make their choice for them.

Either way, their choice is unfortunate.

If you want to try to revive this friendship, you could tell them, once again, that your health situation is chronic.

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