What was wrong with the law proving 50 by 50%? I don't understand. The fact that the law was not observed is a different story. And where is the guarantee that this law will be observed?" Paliychuk wondered. He also points out the first to suffer from this law will be business, not smokers. "Already now restaurant owners complain about outflow of clients. In Poland, for example, two thousand enterprises went bankrupt after the first half a year of operation of such ban. Pretending to fight for waiter's rights, these activists will deprive these very waiters of their jobs," Paliychuk believes. In his opinion, restaurant industry will suffer losses in 2013, while tobacco companies will not even notice the changes.
Curbs on Smokers Continue to Grow
North Dakota this month banned smoking in most public places. Meanwhile, further curbs are under discussion from Bangor, Maine, to San Francisco, as authorities vow to protect the public from secondhand smoke.
"It's no longer a question of who's going to be next" to ban smoking in public areas, said Cynthia Hallett, executive director of Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights, a nonprofit group. "It's who's going to be last."
Shareholders File Anti-Smoking Resolutions With Movie Companies
An anti-smoking crusade is being taken to movie companies by shareholders who are filing resolutions asking that movies designed for young people eliminate smoking or have R ratings.
The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), one of the leaders of the effort, notes a recent U.S. Surgeon General report that says smoking depicted in movies causes more young people to take up smoking.
Shareholders of several major movie companies have filed resolutions asking that the companies give movies depicting smoking an R rating or eliminate smoking from movies anticipated to get a G, PG, or PG-13 rating.
For example, it would make smoking in a car where a child is present a secondary offense, meaning police could not pull over drivers just for that. A driver could be ticketed only after being cited for a primary offense. Also, for the first year after enactment, police would be allowed only to issue warnings, not tickets, to violators. And the $45 penalty would be waived if the violator attended a smoking-cessation class.
Even with all its compromises, the bill is important, Arent says, "because having it illegal makes all the difference in the world to people’s action."
Arent says she has lined up medical experts who can testify that smoking in cars with children "is the most dangerous place to smoke with the most dangerous person to have the smoke around."
Separating smokers from non-smokers, cleaning the air and ventilating buildings cannot eliminate exposure of nonsmokers to second-hand smoke. Each year, second-hand smoke is responsible for an estimated 50,000 deaths in the United States.
"The best way to protect the millions of U.S. multi-unit housing residents from exposure to second-hand smoke is by prohibiting smoking in all units and shared areas of their buildings," said Tim McAfee, MD, MPH, director of the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health. "Not only are smoke-free policies permitted for both public and privately owned multi-unit housing, but they are also favored by most residents and can result in cost savings for multi-unit housing operators."
When the governmental nannies tell us that a Big Gulp is just too much Pepsi, that cigarettes must be banned or that fast food is not heart friendly, they tell us they are doing it for our own good. We will be happier if we just give in to their hectoring. Taken to its logical extreme, however, the Nanny State will not tolerate your disobedience. During Prohibition, the Nanny State was a killer.
Lest you think it is inherently suspicious a young man would have chemicals or electronic parts, note that his school is, according to a Press of Atlantic City account, "a magnet school with programs focusing on engineering and environmental sciences and specializing in hands-on learning." And his momtold MyFoxPhilly.com that her son had a "passion for collecting old stuff, taking it apart and rebuilding things."
Hmm,still thinking that next year isn't going to be any better.
