Tenants fume over invasive second-hand smoke
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- Published on Friday, 11 May 2012 09:38
A published letter to the editor, in response to this article: Tenants fume over invasive second-hand smoke, by Tara Carman
Thank you for this article. As an asthmatic who was forced to move six times because of smoking neighbours, I never thought I was lucky. But unlike Ms. Borutski, I at least had the option of escape, even if I had to repeat it a few times.
Although I am currently happy in a smoke-free place, it should not have taken me repeated nightmare moves to find it. Having to fight for an obvious necessity such as smoke-free housing is like having to fight to ban cholera lollipop sales in schools.
Grandfathering sounds fair in theory. In reality it protects only smokers who already have housing, at the expense of everyone else. Landlords are saddled with a devalued property that is available only to people who neither smoke nor mind breathing other people’s smoke in their own homes.
A recent New York law requires multi-unit housing providers to state and enforce their smoking policies. There will undoubtedly be some initial reshuffling. However, unlike what smokers’ neighbours currently face, these one-time moves will result in smokers finding places where they won’t bother anyone and everyone else finally finding a place where they can stay in safety and comfort.
Sera Kirk
The anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic
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- Published on Saturday, 14 April 2012 20:47
On the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, a message from the president of Airspace:
On behalf of the Members and the Board of Directors of Airspace Action on Smoking and Health, the world's leading all-volunteer anti-tobacco organization, I'd like to express our most sincere condolences to the families (children, grand-children, great grand-children, et al) and friends of all those who were lost in the Titanic tragedy 100 years ago today.
As tragic as the sinking of the Titanic was, it was an accident.
Globally, at the rate of one death every five seconds, tobacco kills the same number of people - about 1,500 - every two hours. That's every two hours.
For the record: after the impact with the iceberg, the Titanic continued to float for about 2 3/4 hours.
Tobacco is a Titanic tragedy... every two hours. And that is no accident.
Help Airspace Action on Smoking and Health put an end to the massacre.
"Sex, Lies and Cigarettes" Vanguard documentary
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- Category: Multimedia
- Published on Wednesday, 14 March 2012 20:47
"Sex, Lies and Cigarettes", a documentary film by Christof Putzel, and aired in the "Vanguard" series on Current TV, is now available on YouTube.
Happy Pink Shirt Day!
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- Published on Wednesday, 29 February 2012 22:01
Happy Pink Shirt Day to
BC Premier Christy "The Bullying Stops Here" Clark
BTW and FYI:
Clark would probably prefer that you not know this about her but...
She is a huge fan of the biggest corporate bully on the planet... an industry that would be out of business virtually overnight if not for its largely unfettered ability to hook and addict (read, bully) generation after generation of impressionable and vulnerable kids... an industry which produces a product that is:
- Directly responsible for more disease, disability and premature death (by an average of 10 - 15 years) than alcohol, all illegal drugs, AIDS, homicide, suicide, fires and car accidents, combined;
- A leading cause of forest fires;
- The leading cause of fatal residential fires; and
- The leading form of litter, to name just a few of the 'attributes' of this product.
It's true, folks: you'll have to search far and wide to find a bigger fan of big tobacco than our very own premier,
Christ , Y
would anybody vote for
Clark ?
Stairclimb for Clean Air
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- Published on Monday, 27 February 2012 23:36
Press coverage of the 11th annual Stairclimb for Clean Air: Hundreds take part in Stairclimb for Clean Air fundraiser
Errol was #218 on the list of finishers, with a time of 11:36.
Demand for smoke-free housing on the rise in Metro Vancouver
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- Published on Wednesday, 21 December 2011 20:12
Article by Carlito Pablo in the Georgia Straight: Demand for smoke-free housing on the rise in Metro Vancouver
Article by Stuart Kreisman mentioned: Toward smoke-free multi-unit dwellings
Survey showing that 80% of Ontarians living in apartments, condominiums or housing co-ops want to live in a smoke-free building: 80% of People Living in Apartments, Condos and Co-ops Want to Live Smoke Free
Tobacco industry involved in smuggling again
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- Published on Tuesday, 06 December 2011 14:02
The Conservative Party of Canada is telling us that crime is something we should be concerned about. They want to increase mandatory sentences (especially for drug-related offenses), limit pardons, and, presumably, build more prisons.
There was also a press release from the Fraser Institute, dutifully reproduced by the Toronto Sun, telling us that tobacco smuggling is a problem, and the way to solve this problem is to reduce taxes on cigarettes.
We've heard this before, and we've also heard that the Fraser Institute wants to abolish public health care, public schools, and provincial and federal parks. Most Canadians who are aware that the Fraser Institute exists regard them as cranks, but they still get very generous media coverage.
Now, here's a couple of news stories that the Canadian media is not telling us about:
Tobacco control measures under industry assault
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- Published on Sunday, 04 December 2011 18:50
Article by Paul Christopher Webster in the Canadian Medical Association Journal: Tobacco control measures under industry assault
Excerpt: "Tobacco industry bids to undermine tobacco prevention and control measures by mounting legal challenges based on international trade treaties appear to have become all the rage, to the dismay of public health advocates. Australia, Norway and Uruguay now face such trade-related lawsuits. Two similar suits against Thailand and the United States were recently settled in the industry’s favour. And as [Dr. Margaret] Chan indicated, legal skirmishing underway at the World Trade Organization suggests that many more countries will soon join the list of industry targets."
E-cigarettes: safer than what?
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- Published on Wednesday, 30 November 2011 10:21
To hear their proponents tell the tale, you could be excused for believing that e-cigarettes are the health equivalent of the Second Coming.
The most harmful part of smoking is the smoke, which e-cigarettes eliminate while keeping the experience of smoking. Physically resembling cigarettes, they are actually electronic devices containing a cartridge of liquid nicotine solution that is heated and vaporized for inhalation.
For addicted smokers, e-cigarettes are a kinder, gentler way to needlessly empty their wallets into a wealthy corporation’s bank account in order to gratify an artificially manufactured craving for a toxic non-essential.
But e-cigarette proponents resolutely refuse to address the two major flaws in their argument.
Backwards burden of proof. They believe that e-cigarette use or “vaping” should be permitted everywhere that smoking is not. Then, if in 50 or 60 years we find out that, like secondhand smoke, e-cigarette vapour harms bystanders, we can spend another 30 to 50 years fighting to outlaw their use in public. They describe anyone who objects to being volunteered as a lab rat to protect their comfort and convenience as a heartless zealot at best and genocidal maniac at worst.
Irrelevant safety standard. Few doubt that inhaling e-cigarette vapor is safer than smoking. Or for that matter, leaping in front of an oncoming train. Or gargling drain cleaner. If we used smoking as a benchmark against which to measure acceptable safety standards for everything, there would not be much left in the world to describe as harmful.
Tobacco Industry Uses Child Labour in Tanzania
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- Published on Wednesday, 23 November 2011 22:55
Add Tanzania to the list of countries where child labour is used in the harvesting of tobacco. Article by Ludovick Kazoka in Tanzania Daily News: Combating child labour in tobacco areas
Excerpt: "These children work long hours without rest or food, endure extreme weather without appropriate gear, carry heavy loads that can affect their growth, face exposure to harmful agrochemicals, and do not have time to go school. On average, they work 8 to 12 hours per day."
