April 2010
4 posts
Soul Abstracts: Ten realizations about “mainstream... →
When it comes to whether mainstream medicine really works, here are ten important “reality check” realizations to keep in mind:
#1) If mainstream medicine really worked, then drug companies wouldn’t have to commit scientific fraud to fake their clinical trials, would they?
#2) If mainstream…
No evidence to support claim smoking in cars is 23... →
The new fear: pigs blood in cigarettes
Here’s the original ‘story’:
http://www.news.com.au/national/cigarettes-may-contain-pigs-blood/comments-e6frfkvr-1225847653290
Cigarettes may contain blood - research
“Insight into world of cigarette manufacture”
Likely to raise concerns for Muslims, Jews
University of Sydney Professor in Public Health Simon Chapman points to recent Dutch research which...
March 2010
10 posts
Patrick Basham - The DoH is Wrong about Cessation
This is a report from Dr Basham’s blog at http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2010/03/17/patrick-basham-the-doh-is-wrong-about-cessation/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+bmj/blogs+(Latest+BMJ+blogs)
I’m very disappointed in the section on cessation contained within the UK Department of Health’s new tobacco control strategy. There are several problems with the DoH’s...
UK air pollution 'killing 50,000 people a year',... →
Can we have smoking back in pubs now please?
The Government has encouraged people to drive diesel cars which were more fuel efficient but created more particulates, while the introduction of biomass boilers in urban areas also led to air pollution.
Poor air quality is linked to respiratory illness, heart disease and asthma, conditions which can dramatically lower life expectancy.
On average...
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So now smoker's are infectious?
Active smoke, passive smoke kills, third hand smoke will wipe out all children, smokers’ leave toxic chemicals lingering in rooms days after they leave like some chemical warfare, smokers’ shouldn’t smoke outside because children shouldn’t see it, smoking in films should be forbidden or force the film to carry an 18 sticker - but drugs, guns and sex can be seen by children....
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Report of TICAP
Here is Michael McFadden’s summary of the TICAP (The International Coalition Against Prohibition) conference. For those who don’t know, McFadden is the author of Dissecting Anti-smokers’ Brains and he was also fortunate enough to edit my book ;) Check out his website at www.antibrains.com
March 16, 2010 The Conference was a great success! We had participants from Pennsylvania...
Collywobbles →
Ian Dunbar’s blog, author of More Than A Puff of Smoke
FDA budget increases penalises smokers
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/2010/02/food-and-drug-administration-in-line-for-another-budget-boost.html
Can someone explain why there is over double the budget for anti-smoking campaigns than drug and medical device safety?
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Cato talk about smoking-related deaths
“For example, the same calculations that yield 400,000 smoking-related deaths suggest that 504,000 people die each year because they engage in little or no exercise. Employing an identical formula, bad nutritional habits can be shown to account for 649,000 excess deaths annually.
“That is nearly 1.6 million deaths from only three causes—without considering alcoholism, accidents,...
Nick Hogan Being Released from Prison
A small update to my previous entry, all the money has now been raised for Nick Hogan and he is being released. Well done and thanks to everyone out there who did their bit
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Support Nick Hogan
Some of you may already be aware of Nick Hogan, others probably not. Nick is/was a pub landlord from Bolton. When the 2007 smoking ban came into effect Nick arranged a mass smoke-in as protest. He got fined. More recently inspectors found people smoking in one of his pubs and gave Nick a £10,000 fine, despite him not being on the premises when it happened. Being ‘fair’ the authorities...
February 2010
36 posts
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Cold Turkey More Effective than NRT
http://www.news-medical.net/news/20100210/Unassisted-cessation-proves-to-be-most-successful-in-quitting-smoking.aspx?
Health authorities should emphasize the positive message that the most successful method used by most ex-smokers is unassisted cessation, despite the promotion of cessation drugs by pharmaceutical companies and many tobacco control advocates.
The dominant messages about smoking...
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Finally! A journalist with integrity
I was very surprised a couple of days ago to pick up my local newspaper to find a small column entitled “Yet another victim of the draconian smoking ban”. I have typed the piece up below for your reading pleasure:
“Three years on and the ripples from the draconian legislation of the public smoking ban are still being felt, with another fine drinking establishment disappearing...
Clear Deceit from Researchers
An old(ish)study from 2006, published on news-medical.net [1], shows just how well versed researchers are in deceit now. The study, entitled “Nicotine Shows Potential Medical Benefits”, shows that nicotine helps alleviate depression (which is something that we have all known for a long time), but we should not smoke or use nicotine patches. No, this study is all about promoting Big...
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NHS Smokefree Live Chat
The fun just never stops where tobacco control is involved. The NHS has now introduced a live web chat to encourage people to stop smoking. Myself and some others from F2C decided to log on and have a chat to see what it is all about. A few things transpire:
They do not want people to cut down smoking, they want quitters only
They do not like answering questions and kept cutting me off when I...
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Cigarette Taxes Linked to Child Care in the USA
On the 4th February 2009 the House of Congress passed a bill which expands the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) by $32.8 billion. This bill generates the extra revenue by increasing the tax on each pack of cigarettes by 62 cents, which will provide health insurance coverage to 4 million children. On the face of it this may look like a great idea - after all, it means that...
9 tags
Some Interesting Figures
Smokers are not lepers, we do not deserve ostracisation from society or to be kicked out of enclosed areas like unwelcome members of society. We pay more into society than non-smokers through ridiculously high taxes - taxes which do not have any effect on smoking rates, only the amount of cash a smoker has. We are not killing anyone with our ‘toxic fumes’ as proclaimed. And, to the...
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Correspondence with the Department of Health
To my letter to the Prime Minister I received a response from the Department of Health. Very underwhelming to say the least. Their second letter explains their refusal to comment further, or in other words avoidance of answering my questions. Clearly they know their reports are not as bullet-proof as they claim and their silence speaks volumes. I will post the next reply if and when I receive...
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It's Started - Outside Smoking Ban
The following was written by Michael Siegel on his blog....
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Smokers Need Not Apply
The Quebec Council on Tobacco and Health, an anti-smoking organisation, has exposed just how bigoted and uncompromising the anti-smoking movement is - by refusing to employ smokers. The group is looking for a webmaster, but only a non-smoker [1] They are offering two very weak reasons for this: 1) to set good examples, in being an anti-smoking organisation they do not want to employ someone who...
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TICAP Banned From EU Building
I hope by now that everyone is familiar with TICAP - The International Coalition Against Prohibition. They were set to have the conference at the end of this month in the EU building in Brussels. I have included the full article below so I will add no more to it, other than to say that this really shows the anti’s agenda, and the fact they are aware that they have no basis or scientific...
More Irresponsibility From the Anti-Smoking...
This article will be looking at a study that found one thing but concluded another. The study was published in the February issue of the American Journal of Public Health, entitled “Association of Smoking in Adolescence with Abdominal Obesity in Adulthood: A Follow-Up Study of 5 Birth Cohorts of Finnish Twins” [1]. The study states that, after controlling for the potential...
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Who's Really Lobbying Congress?
The December 2008 edition of Reader’s Digest [1] has a compiled list of the top 10 lobbyists in America of the past decade, from 1998 to 2008 - and with all the attention anti’s give to tobacco lobbyists you may well be surprised at their positioning. The list is as follows: 2. Insurance - $1.1 billion 3. Electric Utilities - $1 billion 4. Computers/Internet - $820 million 5. Business...
Mobile Phones "More Dangerous Than Smoking"
Can it be that experts have finally decided that smoking isn’t the biggest killer after all? Once may hope, and it does seem medical opinions are finally coming around to the fact that mobile phones pose a significant hazard to one’s health. Because mobile phones are a relatively new technology, and with them only becoming hugely successful in recent years, the possible consequences...
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Why Should It Matter If Obama Smokes?
Today I came across a shocking and disheartening article on the Guardian website. [1] In this article the author makes some startling assumptions about Obama’s smoking habit as well as claiming Americans should make a fuss that he smokes. The author, Joe Queenan, is clearly a non-smoker, but more importantly why does it matter that Obama smokers? He is a grown man and his personal...
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What the Researcher Didn't Say About Secondhand...
Many of you are no doubt aware of the third hand smoke reports that have been making the rounds lately, and it is a sad testament to our current situation that such a ridiculous notion can get any media coverage let alone be bandied around as fact. There are, as ever, numerous problems with the third hand smoke report. The NY Times reported the story [1], as did the Telegraph and now various...
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Letter to the Prime Minister
Here is the letter I wrote and sent to the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, as well as to BBC Panorama, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, The Times, The Guardian, The Observer, The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. I will provide any update I receive following the letter. Dear Prime Minister, I am writing to you regarding an issue about the smoking ban. Having signed the e-petition to allow...
15 tags
10 Dangerous Everyday Things in Your Home
The website HowStuffWorks (http://www.howstuffworks.com) has compiled a list of 10 things lurking within our homes that could be damaging our health without us realising. The site states that “Scientists have realized that chemicals found in a wide variety of the goods we use every day may be more toxic than previously thought. In part because of the array of chemicals used to manufacture...
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Anti-Tobacco Group Encourages Violence in Children...
On Monday 15th December anti-smoking group Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids released its recommended activities for Kick Butts Day 2009 - http://www.kickbuttsday.net and one such activity is a boxing match where a child can punch a mock tobacco industry executive: “On Kick Butts Day we all help empower youth to stand out, speak up and seize control against Big Tobacco with fun, educational...
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Big Pharma - Still Lying To Us
The pharmaceutical industry, otherwise known as Big Pharma, has people convinced that without drugs it is almost impossible to live a healthy lifestyle. Furthermore, any ailment not only has a drug, but needs a drug - everything from the common cold to quitting smoking. Of course, this works well for them as drugs mean more profit for them, and when people take drugs their immune system does...
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More Proof the Anti-Smoking Movement Has Nothing...
An unjustified blanket ban, the ostracisation of smokers in society, campaigning to ban smoking from movies and trying to stop smokers getting treatment on the NHS is not enough. Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Lung Association, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, and the American Medical Association have issued a statement attacking Philip Morris for launching a new...
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Dr Siegel Makes Offer to Anti-Smokers
Dr Michael Siegel has made an offer of $200 to the first anti-smoking organisation who reports on the two year data on Scottish heart attacks. The official data, released by the government, showed that heart attacks in Scotland have risen since last year, for the first time in ten years. Dr Siegel has stated the rules on his website (http://tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com/): 1. To be eligible, an...
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Scottish Heart Attack Rate Increase After the Ban
The following article comes from Christopher Snowdon of www.velvetgloveironfist.com. What is most crucial about this news is that it marks the first time in many years that the rates of heart attacks have increased, as they have been steadily declining....
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Dr Ken Denson and the Truth About Smoking
For years the medical community has rammed the notion that smoking is a killer, and that there is no safe level of tobacco smoke. It is refreshing, therefore, to hear a well known and respected doctor speak out against that. Dr. Ken Denson invented the INR and discovered Factor X. He was not funded by, or received money from, any tobacco company. Joe Jackson has written an essay on smoking,...
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Like Savages, They Attack Their Own
To those of you who do not know who Michael Siegel is, he is a prominent anti-smoker who wholeheartedly agrees with bans and other tobacco control. Unlike the rest of the anti-smoking brigade though, Mr Siegel speaks out against ridiculous lies and notions put forth from the movement, such as a new outcry over the labelling of ‘slim’ cigarettes - where the anti’s claim that this...
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...And Neither Does Secondhand Smoke
This article is a two-in-one. The first is an article written by Victoria Macdonald, Health Correspondent; the second is written by FORCES. Both appeared on the FORCES websites and can be viewed there. The respective links are: http://www.forces.org/articles/files/passive1.htm http://www.forces.org/articles/files/who1.htm Article 1 THE world’s leading health organisation has withheld from...
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It's Official - Smoking Doesn't Cause Cancer...
The following article was written by James P. Siepmann, MD. It first appeared on the Journal of Theoretics website at this location: http://www.journaloftheoretics.com/Editorials/Vol-1/e1-4.htm
Smoking Does Not Cause Lung Cancer (According to WHO/CDC Data)* By: James P. Siepmann, MD
Yes, it is true, smoking does not cause lung cancer. It is only one of many risk factors for lung...
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The Overwhelming Ignorance of the Medical...
As can be expected the BBC has quite a large archive of articles on smoking. One dated the 8th March 2008 caught my attention. The article is entitled “Smokers ‘make their children ill’” and features quotes from Dr Steve Ryan, a medical director at Liverpool’s Alder Hey Hospital.[1] The reason the article caught my attention is because I was staggered at the level...
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Smokers Banned From Fostering
On Wednesday 5th November the BBC featured an article explaining that Redbridge council - a north east London borough - have passed a ban which prohibits smokers from becoming foster parents.[1] Apparently the ban was passed with a unanimous vote from councillors, stating the council wants to protect children from “the damaging effects of passive and second-hand smoke”, and cabinet...
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The Truth About the Ban
Testimony of Radley Balko Policy Analyst, Cato Institute http://www.cato.org/testimony/dct-rb061405.html before the District of Columbia City Council June 14, 2005 Thanks to Madam Chair and to the D.C. City Council for letting me testify today. I only regret that all nine council members who plan to vote to make the District smoke free had more important things to do than listen to the concerns of...
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Liars, Damn Liars, and Anti-Smokers
Ok, so we all knew perfectly well what anti-smokers are capable of. After all, it’s not many people who can, or would, manipulate their entire country into ousting and rejecting an entire group of people - a group which is a considerable amount of the population. Even less people would let this happen around the entire world, and fewer still would do all this because the habit of the...
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The Real Pub Situation
MSN Today has released an article [1] giving the true picture for British pubs. In the article on Heart Attacks since the ban I showed how figures are bastardised and twisted to suit the needs of the anti-smoking movement. This practise has also been used in trying to convince the public that the ban has had a neutral or positive effect on pubs and clubs. Whilst anti-smoking groups continue to lie...
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Smoking Athletes
The Olympic games. The mere name conjures images of healthy, fit sports people at the peak of their ability. Athletes who were hand picked to be the face of their nation for their outstanding sporting abilities. Certainly, the Olympics does not bring images of smoking. Nor does the above description sound like the typical smoker. Yet somehow, the lines are blurred and that man outside shivering...
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The Chemistry of Secondhand Smoke
This article was written by Michael J. McFadden in his book “Dissecting Antismokers’ Brains”. His website is www.antibrains.com The Chemistry of Secondary Smoke As noted earlier in the chapter on Language, about 90% of secondary smoke is composed of water and ordinary air with a slight excess of carbon dioxide. Another 4% is carbon monoxide, a gas that can act as a poison when...
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Heart Attack Figures After the Ban
Since the introduction of the smoking ban in all enclosed public areas in Britain there have been a few reports claiming it has reduced heart attack admissions in hospitals. In fact, the ban has been hailed as decreasing heart attacks to a huge extent - almost to the point where passive smoke is being accused of causing the majority of heart disease. Is this really the case? The report goes...
Downing Street - Squirming Again
The first post for this blog is an older article I wrote, but it nicely characterises why this blog exists in the first place.
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A short while ago a petition was sent to Downing Street about second-hand smoke. The petition read as follows:
“We the undersigned petition the Prime...