À quoi sert la nicotine ?
Published on 2012-02-20 17:32:36.
Website: Accueil
unairneuf.org: "On vit très bien sans fumer. Pour certaines personnes, la consommation de tabac est cependant devenue une habitude profondément ancrée dans les différents moments de la vie : ses effets (et son absence) doivent être pris en charge lors de la transition vers l'arrêt. "1 - Effets généraux du tabagisme
"La cigarette apporte un soutien aux sujets qui ont du mal s'affirmer dans les relations avec les autres, qui ont une piètre image d’eux-mêmes ou qui manquent de confiance en eux : il n'est pas rare que les premières cigarettes aient été fumées dans de telles circonstances
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| Richard Dawkins v. Rowan Williams
Published on 2012-02-20 16:01:03.
Website: Frank Davis
On 23 Feb there’s going to be a webcast of a debate between Richard Dawkins and the Archbishop of Canterbury: Dialogue with Archbishop Rowan Williams and Professor Richard Dawkins Philosopher Sir Anthony Kenny will chair a dialogue between the Archbishop … Continue reading →
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Argumental
Published on 2012-02-20 07:16:00.
Website: Velvet Glove, Iron Fist
I've done a number of interviews today re: the Adam Smith Institute plain packaging report. Here's two of them...
Firstly, versus Deborah Arnott of ASH on the Today programme.
Secondly, versus a woman from CRUK on Victoria Derbyshire's Five Live show (from 1 hour 10 minutes in).
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| "Come Back Here, I'll Bite Your Legs Off!"
Published on 2012-02-20 05:31:00.
Website: Dick Puddlecote
Over at VGIF, Snowdon has been describing ASH's reaction to a report he has written on plain packaging for the ASI.
For a fake charity so used to declaring that 'the debate is over' - even when it's not by any means - feeling compelled to answer a full house of well-constructed arguments, while having very little in their hand except a pair of twos, must be quite daunting. Which is probably why the response is laugh-out-loud inept.
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Jerry’s Coming
Published on 2012-02-19 16:11:31.
Website: Frank Davis
I’ve been reading The Battle of Britain by James Holland. It’s a very good book. Perhaps the best one I’ve ever read about it. So I’ve had my head filled with Spitfires and Stukas and so on over the past … Continue reading →
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| Plain Packaging: Commercial expression, anti-smoking extremism and the risks of hyper-regulation
Published on 2012-02-19 16:01:00.
Website: Velvet Glove, Iron Fist
Today promises to be a bumper 24 hours of annoying prohibitionists, for it is the day the Adam Smith Institute publishes a paper I wrote about the ridiculous plain packaging proposals.
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"Les amateurs genevois de cigares s’offrent un lieu avec bar"
Published on 2012-02-19 14:59:28.
Website: Accueil
La Tribune de Genève - par Julien de Weck: "Un cercle privé ouvre ce lundi après avoir obtenu les autorisations du Service du commerce. Explications
"Première à Genève. Un cercle privé d’amateurs de cigares, le Speakeasy, s’ouvre aujourd’hui en Vieille-Ville. Particularité de taille: il dispose d’un bar, sans toutefois contrevenir aux lois genevoises sur le débit de boissons (LRDBH) et sur la fumée passive. «Les cercles ne sont pas soumis à la loi sur l’interdiction de fumer du canton», rappelle le médecin cantonal Jacques-André Romand, dont les services régissent cette législation. Il n’empêche, ce dossier est passé par son office.
«La délivrance des autorisations par le Service du commerce clôt un parcours du combattant», déclare Me Maïssa Fattal, avocate du cercle. Première contrainte, le club doit poursuivre un but idéal. «Il s’agit de se réunir autour du cigare dans un lieu privé, sans visée lucrative.» Personne ne peut prétendre devenir membre à l’entrée. «Une demande préalable par écrit doit être formulée, poursuit l’avocate, et validée par le comité.» A cela s’ajoute entre autres l’interdiction d’enseigne publique visible, des horaires fixés par le Service du commerce et une ventilation réalisée sur mesure. Autre écueil prévu par la loi fédérale, l’espace ne doit excéder 80 m2."(photo: Nuit du cigare. A dr: Ana Markovic)
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| Food Snobbery: California Playing Catch Up To UK's Lead
Published on 2012-02-19 10:35:00.
Website: Dick Puddlecote
If there is one set of bansturbators who can claim to emulate anti-smokers in terms of hysteria, it can only be the food police. Let's have a peek at what is happening in California, shall we?
The food truck nation is fretting over AB 1678, a bill introduced into the California State Legislature on Tuesday a.k.a. Valentine's Day. But this was no love letter for fans of mobile food. The bill seeks to ban mobile food and beverage vending within 1,500 feet of elementary and secondary schools from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. when schools are in session.
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La fumée des incendies de forêt cause 339'000 morts par année
Published on 2012-02-19 05:53:12.
Website: Accueil
ATS: "La fumée des incendies dans la nature, notamment de forêt, a provoqué 339'000 décès en moyenne par an dans le monde de 1997 à 2006. Une étude qui représente la première estimation de cette cause de mortalité, a été présentée samedi lors d'une conférence scientifique à Vancouver.
"L'Afrique subsaharienne et l'Asie du Sud-est ont été les plus touchées avec respectivement 157'000 morts - près de la moitié du total - et 110'000 décès.
"Cette recherche est publiée dans la revue "Environmental Health Perspectives" et a été dévoilée à la conférence annuelle de la Société américaine pour l'avancement de la science (AAAS), réunie ce week-end à Vancouver (Colombie Britannique, ouest du Canada). "
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| I will always love you.
Published on 2012-02-19 03:31:48.
Website: Freedom-2-Choose
Goodnight sweetheart, goodnight.
On Thursday the 16th if February 2012 my beloved wife of over forty years passed away after a long fight with Alzheimer's. My lovely, beautiful wife, a light smoker, hated no one but had many dislikes, like most of us do,
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A prohibitionist writes
Published on 2012-02-19 02:29:00.
Website: Velvet Glove, Iron Fist
Are you ready? Then we'll begin.
Abolish the Food Industry
Bang! That's the headline of this piece from The Atlantic. It sprang from the biro of Raj Patel. Dick Puddlecote's readers may recall the name. He thinks that each hamburgers "costs" society $200 in terms of environmental destruction and obesity. That is nonsense but, as we shall see, nonsense is Mr Patel's middle name.
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| "Silence ! En France on étouffe les libertés "
Published on 2012-02-18 18:27:32.
Website: Accueil
polemia.com: "Les gouvernants français aiment à se poser en défenseurs des libertés. Mais ils multiplient les textes et les pratiques liberticides. Explications.
"LOPPSI : la prison pour les opposants aux maires
"Votée en 2011, la LOPPSI est une loi censée améliorer la sécurité des Français. Mais au hasard d’un article elle protège les maires des contestations bon enfant. Interrompre un conseil municipal, fût-ce quelques secondes, est désormais un délit passible de lourdes peines d’amende, de la déchéance des droits civiques et de la prison. Les Identitaires angevins en ont fait l’expérience. Pour s’être introduits en avril dernier au conseil municipal d’Angers pour protester contre un projet de construction de mosquée, ils ont subi les foudres de la police et de la justice : écoutes téléphoniques, gardes à vue, mises en examen et condamnations. On objectera qu’ils ont eu tort d’agir ainsi mais comment se faire entendre contre un projet contesté quand l’opposition officielle au maire n’ose rien dire ? C’est précisément parce qu’il n’y a plus de pluralisme dans les assemblées que les citoyens sont contraints de trouver des moyens de se faire entendre. Un chahut n’est pas un crime ! Le procureur l’a d’ailleurs admis tout en précisant que c’est à cause de l’objet de la manifestation qu’il avait poursuivi les auteurs. Il s’agit donc bien là de justice politique."
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Premonitions
Published on 2012-02-18 14:18:00.
Website: Frank Davis
H/T Walt for this story from Pointe West, Florida. (also msnbc) Jane O’Grady is 97 years old. She is hard of hearing and has a glass eye. And, much to the chagrin of a local assisted and independent living facility, … Continue reading →
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| Thoughts While Idle
Published on 2012-02-18 09:31:00.
Website: Dick Puddlecote
Having just undergone very minor surgery - not remotely tobacco, alcohol, salt, fatty food, sugar, processed meat or cholesterol-related, disappointingly for doomsayers - I've been watching a lot of TV. And of all the things I've watched, the most gruesomely interesting scene was during Saul David's last episode of Bullets, Boots and Bandages where he gives an account of the amputation of Lord Uxbridge's leg at the Battle of Waterloo. It's not for the squeamish as he re-enacts it with a cow's leg from 18:50 on at this link.
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Link Tank 18/02
Published on 2012-02-18 02:11:00.
Website: Dick Puddlecote
In your own time.
Hawaii amends ban to allow indoor smoking again
Forget minimum pricing as a tool for tackling binge-drinking
Why does the progressive mantra fly out the window when talking about sin taxes?
Politician who wants to deny privacy is flooded with minutiae from Canadians
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| No More Petitions
Published on 2012-02-17 16:27:05.
Website: Frank Davis
I’ve just removed the Review The Smoking Ban E-petition from the right margin. Why? Because I don’t want to petition anybody for anything any more. I don’t want to go cap-in-hand to the government, tugging my forelock, and saying, “Please … Continue reading →
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Buveurs--fumeurs-causeurs en ligne de mire...
Published on 2012-02-17 15:43:39.
Website: Accueil
Genève Home Information (GHI) du 16 février 2012 consacre sa Une et l'intégralité de sa page 3 à un fléau pourtant prévisible et étroitement lié à un autre fléau: la Prohibition du tabac. Nuisances nocturnes: la guerre est déclarée ! paraît-il. Il s'agit non pas d'éclats d'obus mais bien d'éclats de voix qui strient le ciel étoilé des citoyens plongés dans le sommeil du juste. Plusieurs foyers sonores polluants la nuit des bons citoyens ont ainsi été repérés en ville de Genève. Des cibles pour une nouvelle vague répressive. Les autorités redoublent d'imagination pour faire cesser ce trouble qui va croissant. Des grappes de buveurs-fumeurs-causeurs se forment à la sortie des boîtes de nuit et paraissent insensibles aux exhortations de "chuchoteurs" affairés à calmer les cordes vocales et apaiser les langues des trouble-fête. Chacun y va de son remède, de sa solution-miracle pour faire cesser ces troubles nocturnes. "Cinq rues sur le pied de guerre" titre le GHI qui énumère quelques mesures préventives: interdire la consommation d'alcool à l'extérieur, augmenter les rondes et limiter l'emprise des terrasses. Cette indubitable nuisance découle en grande partie de la Prohibition. Ceux des députés au Grand Conseil de Genève les plus lucides avaient pourtant décrit et prédit cet "effet secondaire" dès le mois de novembre 2007.
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| unairneuf.org: "La revanche des rameurs"
Published on 2012-02-17 15:13:22.
Website: Accueil
unairneuf.org: "Les autorités sanitaires ont perdu leur prétendue autorité au fil des scandales à répétition
"Comme nous le faisons ici depuis des années, Dr Dominique Dupagne "rame" à contre-courant de la propagande de la pharmacine afin de diffuser une information pertinente dans le domaine de la santé. Son forum indépendant Atoute.org traite de tabagisme, mais aussi d'alcoolisme, et de l'ensemble des pathologies.
« Il faut imaginer Sisyphe heureux » disait Albert Camus. "Lutter contre l'influence néfaste des lobbys industriels ressemble au travail sans fin du mythique Sisyphe. Dominique Dupagne nous dévoile un chemin possible pour faire cesser la domination des industriels pharmaceutiques sur la politique et l'économie de la santé, les soins, les traitements, etc. au détriment du citoyen."
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Promising New From Hawaii
Published on 2012-02-17 11:13:00.
Website: Jredheadgirl
Thanks to Harleyrider for posting this on Frank Davis' blog-
“The more freedom we give to visitors as well as residents, I think the happier that people are and the more they feel that they can enjoy all that life has to offer,” said Rep. Tom Brower, who voted for the bill.
These are the types of representatives that we the people should be voting for.
Committee votes to reverse smoking ban | KHON2 Hawaii's News Leader
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| Minimum pricing: what to expect
Published on 2012-02-17 03:24:00.
Website: Velvet Glove, Iron Fist
The ChaMPs Public Health Network—founded in 2003, entirely state-funded and involved in the dodgy minimumpricing.info website—is one of several arms of government working to impose minimum pricing on the public.
You will be hearing a lot of cant and nonsense about this scheme in the next few months as the Department of Health/British Medical Association PR machine turns up the throttle. The tone of the discussion can be gauged from a meeting hosted by ChaMPs in 2010 when the usual lies were presented as facts. For example, they said that the price of alcohol has fallen in real terms since 1980. In fact, alcohol has risen by 20% in real terms. Either they don't know what 'real terms' means, or they are willfully misleading the public.
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Callous Cruelty
Published on 2012-02-16 16:53:44.
Website: Frank Davis
A couple of quotes. First from Daniel Hannan: During a TV debate with a Greek Socialist MEP this morning, I suggested that Greece wouldn’t begin to recover until it decoupled, defaulted and devalued. The two biggest sectors of the Greek … Continue reading →
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| Censure: Gainsbourg fume partout, sauf sur les affiches du métro
Published on 2012-02-16 14:37:38.
Website: Accueil
slate.fr: "La censure et le zèle pro-Loi Evin de l'affiche du film de Joann Sfar dans le métro sont d'une stupidité sans nom.
"Le premier film de Joann Sfar, Gainsbourg, vie héroïque, sortira sur les écrans le 20 janvier.(DDG: Année ?) Les Parisiens ont déjà eu droit aux affiches du film. On y voit le visage d'Eric Elmosnino, de profil, incarnation troublante de réalisme de Gainsbarre, expulsant la fumée de sa cigarette qui dessine des volutes blanches sur un fond noir. Une belle affiche.
"Seulement voilà, les affiches apposées dans le métro ont un détail en moins, et pas des moindres: les volutes sont parties (en fumée). On ne peut qu'imaginer que Gainsbourg est en train de soupirer, ou de siffler mollement un hypothétique taxi... (dans le film, sa manière de héler les taxis est autrement plus poétique). Ironie, le gommage de la fumée ne la rend que plus présente.
"Gainsbarre sans la clope...pourquoi pas Charlot sans la canne ? "
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Health "Expert" Calls For Global Regulation of Alcohol
Published on 2012-02-16 09:38:00.
Website: Jredheadgirl
First the fanatic Neo Bishops of Counter Do Gooderism came for our individual sovereignty via the FCTC. The WHO has been astoundingly successful in its efforts to admonish nation states of their autonomy. The worldwide anti-tobacco "laws" that result come courtesy of un-elected bureaucrats with no identifiable face or tangible constituency.
As many of us in the blogosphere have have been saying all along, the anti-tobacco establishment will soon prove to be the catalyst for increasing restrictions upon private behavior, which will be enforced via more government snooping and prodding into ALL of our lives. It won't just be the smokers anymore. We no longer need to convince the general public of this inevitability, for now their objective is now out in the open for all to see.
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| Champix could be prescribed for alcoholism
Published on 2012-02-16 09:19:00.
Website: Freedom-2-Choose (Scotland)
Champix (Chantix in the US) has shown 'promise' as a treatment for alcohol dependency. This is light blogging for a few days, but the link is here, and no mention is made of reports of side effects including depression, suicidal ideation and actual suicides other than a link to another report that denies any such effects.
Reports on adverse side effects are wide ranging. There are also
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Le Matin: " L'industrie de la clope est sur un petit nuage"
Published on 2012-02-15 16:35:17.
Website: Accueil
Le Matin: " L'industrie de la clope est sur un petit nuage"...
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| We’ve Stopped Spending (rpt)
Published on 2012-02-15 16:12:18.
Website: Frank Davis
I’ve decided to leave this post up for the time being, so that a few more people can read and perhaps add to the comments under it, all of which make a strong case that smoking bans have a far … Continue reading →
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More movie madness
Published on 2012-02-15 16:09:00.
Website: Velvet Glove, Iron Fist
Last night I watched Bridesmaids (it's pretty good). I didn't notice any smoking in it, but then I'm not a wide-eyed obsessive living in terror of a waft of on-screen smoke. Apparently, however, at least one person does smoke at some point because the film is named and shamed in Stanton Glantz's latest work of pseudo-academia. According to the great mechanical engineer, the movie has delivered 60,020,706 "tobacco impressions" and so has led to hundreds, if not thousands, of youngsters to suddenly taking up the habit.
Welcome to the world of SmokeFree Movies, Glantz's quixotic campaign to banish tobacco from our screens (for the children, natch). Despite years of being ridiculed and ignored on this issue, Stan is continuing his crusade and has written yet another paper on the subject (he has written a lot).
Today, he claims that 100,000 Californian 12-17 year olds are smokers as a direct result of seeing smoking in the movies. This is a figure that he alone invented and which even hardcore anti-smoking head-bangers like Simon Chapman find laughable.
He also claims that these 100,000 people will cost the taxpayer $1.6 billion. This figure is based on a total misrepresentation of the academic literature and a fundamental misunderstanding of externalities and social costs. As I hope you know by now, it is doubtful that smokers incur any net costs on other taxpayers, but even if they do, they are vastly outweighed by revenue from tobacco taxes (see here for a refresher).
This is all bog-standard junk from the godfather of junk science. The real bees
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| All Hail The Lunchbox Police
Published on 2012-02-15 11:42:00.
Website: Dick Puddlecote
Forget Cameron's dunderheaded grandstanding over alcohol for a minute, as this struck a nerve at Puddlecote Towers today.
[Dr David Regis, of the Schools Health Education Unit said,] "Schools are serving better school dinners and they are also taking more of an interest in the contents of pupils' lunchboxes."He says this as if it is a good thing.
A child's lunchbox has always been a place solely reserved for the parent and their kid, somewhere loving notes used to be left without fear of prying eyes. Has it really come to this? The state insisting on intruding on something as trivial and private as what the Mum hands to her little ones in the morning?
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Chris Carter release following international appeal
Published on 2012-02-15 11:39:00.
Website: Freedom-2-Choose (Scotland)
The story is told here in the Spectator (dated 9
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| Step Away From The Sandcastle!
Published on 2012-02-15 05:40:00.
Website: Dick Puddlecote
Child abusers, pictured yesterday
Having met a few health-terrified parents in my time, I sometimes wonder how pitifully boring their kids' lives must be. Here's a brand new health scare - from the US EPA, no less - which could well wreck many a child's summer holiday.
People take certain precautions when they go to the beach. They apply sunscreen to avoid sunburn and stay away from big waves if they are not strong swimmers. But they do not usually worry about getting sick from digging or playing in the sand.
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Les mensonges en blouse blanche, ça suffit !
Published on 2012-02-15 02:33:36.
Website: Accueil
unairneuf.org: « Qui ne dit mot consent » affirmait en son temps le pape Boniface VIII « qui tacet consentire videtur ». La dés/information tabacologique continuant de plus belle, nous sommes désolé d'avoir une fois encore à dénoncer la logorrhée de médecins invités à répétition dans les médias. Même pour une bonne cause, les mensonges sont une faute !
"Ainsi mercredi 1er février 2012, le sujet de l’émission Le téléphone sonne sur France Inter animée par Alain Bedouet était [1] :
"Locaux non fumeurs, 5 ans après : quel bilan pour la loi d'interdiction de fumer au travail ?
"avec pour invités...
"Dr Marielle Dumortier, médecin du travail,
"Pr Yves Martinet, Président du Comité national contre le tabagisme, Chef du service de pneumologie du CHU de Nancy, et
"Dr Anne Borgne, tabacologue en Seine-Saint-Denis."
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| NHS Borders attempts an outdoor smoking ban
Published on 2012-02-14 14:51:00.
Website: Freedom-2-Choose (Scotland)
This story is almost a month old.
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