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SMOKE SCREEN
April 23, 2004
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WELCOME
Welcome to our first edition of a new issue/update publication, "Smoke Screen,"
dedicated to the ongoing war on tobacco. While we intend to cover a wide range
of aspects on this issue, we'll devote considerable attention to the loss of
liberty smokers - and the businesses who welcome them - are facing across the
country, how governments at every level are trying to milk smokers financially
to boost their coffers, and how the government and anti-tobacco forces are
conspiring to regulate and control what and how adult citizens can use these
perfectly legal products.
Even people who don't smoke, have never smoked and can't stand other people who
do smoke need to be aware of the serious ramifications and loss of liberty
Americans are suffering in the ongoing "War Against Tobacco." To that end, we
bring you "Smoke Screen." Expect a new issue every couple of weeks...or as
circumstances warrant.
Chuck Muth, President
Citizen Outreach
HERE COME THE FEDS, HERE COME THE FEDS
"Wading back into a bitter debate he abandoned last fall, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.)
is again taking up a bill that would give the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
authority to regulate tobacco products. At the same time, Gregg, chairman of
the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, appears to have patched up
his differences over the legislation with the panel's sixth-ranking Republican,
Mike DeWine (Ohio).
"Beefing up the FDA's regulatory power has been a perennial goal of
public-health advocates who abhor the lack of government regulation of
cigarettes and the bane of many tobacco companies that fear the FDA could use
regulatory power to ban the use of some ingredients of cigarettes, such as
nicotine."
- The Hill, 4/20/04
http://thehill.com/business/042004_tobacco.aspx
SO MUCH FOR PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS
"A ban on smoking in bars, restaurants and many other public buildings in
Lexington, the heart of the burley tobacco belt, was upheld Thursday by the
Kentucky Supreme Court. The court, in a 6-1 ruling, said the city had acted
within its authority to 'promote and safeguard public health.' It also said the
ordinance could be enforced immediately, and city officials said it would go
into effect next Tuesday."
- Associated Press, 4/22/04
FREEDOM GOES UP IN SMOKE
"Committees in both (Rhode Island) legislative chambers Wednesday unanimously
approved a ban on smoking in nearly all workplaces. Although the Senate
approved a workplace smoking ban in 2003, this is the first time any type of
smoking ban has cleared a committee in the House of Representatives. . . . The
House version, sponsored by House Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox, D-Providence,
exempts establishments with Class C and D liquor licenses if they have fewer
than 10 employees. The exemption would expire in October 2006. The Senate
version, sponsored by Sen. V. Susan Sosnowski, D-Charlestown, does not exempt
the bars."
- Newport Daily News, 4/22/04
MADISON SNUFFS OUT BAR SMOKING
"The freedom to smoke in taverns took a hit early Wednesday when the Madison
Common Council voted to ban smoking in all bars and restaurants starting in July
2005, creating the toughest indoor smoking policy in Wisconsin. The council
voted 15-5 to adopt the ordinance, which essentially bans smoking in all
workplaces."
- Wausau Daily Herald, 4/22/04
ATLANTA MULLS SMOKE BAN
"The Atlanta City Council will hold a public hearing Monday to discuss a
proposed ban on smoking in public places. . . . Vortex Bar and Grill owner
Michael Benoit thinks the City Council is going too far. 'It's really not the
place of the government to tell our customers what legal activities they can and
cannot partake in while on our premises,' Benoit said."
- Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 4/22/04
SMOKERS DEFY BAN, BACKLASH BUILDS
"Twenty-two days after a (Connecticut) statewide smoking ban went into full
effect, patrons of the Central Hotel bar are defiantly lighting up their
cigarettes. Wendy Duchesney, a resident of Sterling, said the state Legislature
has given the term 'Big Brother' a whole new meaning. 'It's your God-given
right to smoke,' Duchesney said. 'And we have got to take a stand.'
"Duchesney, who quit smoking 14 years ago, said bar owners are losing money as
smokers migrate to the casinos and private clubs such as Veterans of Foreign
Wars and American Legion posts, where smoking remains legal.
"Plainfield police fined two patrons of the bar Sunday $99 for smoking. 'This
is an infringement on everyone's rights,' said Bill Donahey of Central Village,
45, and a veteran of the U.S. Navy, as he sipped a beer and eyed the pack of
Parliament Lights in front of him. 'Why are people allowed to smoke in the
casinos and at (private clubs)? Aren't workers there just as susceptible to
second-hand smoke as other workers? We've been singled out like second-hand
citizens.'
"For some patrons, the idea that personal freedoms were being trod on by the
state government did not sit well. 'I don't smoke. I quit when I had kids, but
smokers should have the right to smoke in a bar,' Eve Goyette of Moosup said."
- Norwich Bulletin, 4/22/04
GOV'T ADDICTION TO TOBACCO MONEY
"Between 1998 and 2002, state and federal governments collected $135 billion in
tobacco taxes and state settlement payments -- more than $74 million a day. The
$51,334 the government pockets every minute from smokers is nearly $10,000 more
than the 2001 median household income the average working family earned in a
year. The government has a virtual monopoly on tobacco profits. In 2003, the
government per-pack profit -- $1.74 -- was almost 16 times more than the 11
cents per pack R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company earned. On average, 46 percent of
the cost of a pack of cigarettes nationwide goes to the government.
"If you think this revenue is needed to fund the cost of tobacco-control
programs, think again. According to a March 2004 report by the U. S. General
Accounting Office (GAO), states are spending just 2 percent of the billions of
dollars they receive in settlement funds on tobacco control and less than 20
percent on health-related programs. The GAO reports that 54 percent of the
$11.4 billion states will receive in fiscal year 2004 will be spent on budget
shortfalls, 17 percent on health-related programs, 7 percent on debt service on
securitized tobacco settlement funds, 6 percent on general purposes, 5 percent
on infrastructure, and just 2 percent toward tobacco control. Commenting on the
GAO report, Sam Kazman, general counsel for the Competitive Enterprise
Institute, said, "[T]he states...have become addicted to tobacco money, spending
it on all kinds of unrelated programs."
- R.J. Reynolds press release, 4/14/04
TAXING THE TAR OUT OF TOBACCO
"The (Michigan) state House is set to take up legislation this week that would
increase the state tax on cigarettes and liquor and continue the estate tax on
wealthy individuals. . . . Rep. Randy Richardville, a Monroe Republican who
helps set the agenda for the House, said representatives want to begin working
on the bills that reflect Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposals to help resolve the
$1.3 billion shortfall in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. . . .
Granholm's $39.7 billion spending plan for the budget year that begins Oct. 1
includes $295 million from raising the cigarette tax from $1.25 to $2 per pack."
- Associated Press, 4/20/04
STICKING IT TO 'BAMA SMOKERS
"Pack-a-day smokers in Alabama, who had been facing the possibility of paying
$60 more a year in taxes, could see that amount rise to $78 under a proposal
being negotiated Thursday. The Alabama House voted April 14 to double Alabama's
16.5-cents-a-pack cigarette tax to 33 cents. The Senate Finance and
Taxation-General Fund Committee postponed action on the measure Thursday as
panel Chairman Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, said talks are going on about
increasing the tax by another 5 cents."
- Associated Press, 4/22/04
UH-OH...HERE WE GO AGAIN
"Like many aspiring rodeo cowboys, Kent Cooper began chewing tobacco at a young
age -- 13, to be exact. For close to 30 years -- most of those while he was on
the pro rodeo circuit -- Copenhagen was his brand of choice, until friends say
he dropped the habit four or five years ago. But the lifestyle change came too
late for one of Idaho's most successful rodeo cowboys, attorneys for his ex-wife
say. The Albion resident...was diagnosed with throat cancer in April 2002 and
died later that year in Burley at the age of 47.
"Now, Cooper's ex-wife, Susan Smith, on behalf of their son, Will, 9, is suing
the manufacturer of Copenhagen. The lawsuit contends that the U.S. Smokeless
Tobacco Co. and its predecessors 'hooked' Cooper on the product, and that they
falsely stated for years that chewing tobacco wasn't addictive and there was no
proof that it caused harm to people."
- Twin Falls (Idaho) Times-News, 4/15/04
http://www.magicvalley.com/news/localstate/index.asp?StoryID=9370
FIRST, DO LESS HARM
"The basic problem with tobacco is that it is addictive and poses a risk to
health. This is true for all of its forms, be they cigarettes, snuff or sweets.
But smoking tobacco increases the risks, since the combustion produces hundreds
of carcinogenic and teratogenic chemicals which are directly breathed into the
lungs. This seems to be a very important factor behind lung cancer, and over 90
percent of all lung cancer cases are estimated to be linked to smoking.
Smokeless tobacco avoids the lung cancer issue (oral cancer is still a risk, as
for smoking). . . . The bottom line is this: If more tobacco addicts used
[smokeless tobacco], hundreds of thousands of lung cancer cases could be avoided
every year in Europe. There would still be addiction and other health problems,
but the situation would improve."
- Columnist Waldemar Ingdahl, Tech Central Station, 4/15/04
http://www.techcentralstation.com/041504B.html
THE SWEDISH EXPERIENCE
"The genesis of tobacco harm reduction can be traced to what researchers call
the 'Swedish Experience.' Sweden currently has the lowest level of
tobacco-related mortality in the developed world as well as the lowest
percentage of male smokers (16 percent) of any European nation. In addition,
Sweden became the first and only country in the world to lower adult smoking
prevalence below the World Health Organization (WHO) target level of 20 percent
before the end of the year 2000. This transition is due primarily to Swedish
male smokers converting to 'snus,' a moist, ground, oral tobacco product.
Scientific studies confirmed that cancer and diseases associated with smoking
have dropped dramatically in Sweden during this time."
- Swedish Match North America press release, 4/16/04
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=102-04162004
MISLEADING THE PUBLIC
What a difference one little letter can make.
An April 16 press release (http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=116-04162004)
sent out by the Ohio Dental Association reads, "While many believe that
smokeless tobacco is a safe alternative to cigarettes, this is a misconception."
What's a misconception is that folks are claiming that smokeless tobacco is a
"safe" alternative. Rather, what many are pointing out is that smokeless
tobacco is a "safer" alternative. As in risk reduction...not absence of risk.
There's a HUGE difference between claiming something is safe and claiming that
something is safer. The ODA does the public an equally huge disserve by
misinforming the public. You'd expect better from such a professional
organization.
Misleading the public on tobacco is the job of government and trial lawyers.
- Chuck Muth, Editor, Smoke Screen
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SMOKE SCREEN is published by Citizen Outreach.
Citizen Outreach
611 Pennsylvania Ave., SE, #439
Washington, DC 20003
For more information, visit us at
www.citizenoutreach.com
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