The Wisconsin Smoking Ban, SB 181, passed in May, looks like a done deal to me. With this in mind, I was surprised (though shouldn't have been) to come across the Ban the Ban Wisconsin blog site, which features repeated claims that anti-smoking organizations are "front groups for Big Pharma." Interesting. So...does that mean Big Pharma is a big, bad bully that is beating up on poor, meek Big Tobacco?
Either way, the law is passed. The question is: Do you agree with the passage of the Wisconsin Smoking Ban?
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Comments
To think you are harmed by a little smoke! Every been around a campfire or an airport? Airplanes put out more in one day than you will EVER be exposed to by a lifetime of smokers.
Cigarette 3 mg of nitrogen oxide (NO) and 40 mg of carbon monoxide (CO)
One single 747 takeoff/landing 115 pounds of NO and 32 pounds of CO
(That’s 52 million mg of NO and 14 million mg of CO)
500 takeoffs/landings per day CO equivalent of over 160 million cigarettes and the NO of Eight and a Half BILLION cigarettes.
AVERAGED EMISSIONS OF FINE PARTICLES IN GRAMS PER HOUR OR DAY
Cigarette .4 grams/hour (0.8 grams/pack)
Gas or Propane Furnace .001 grams/hour ( 0.024 grams/day)
Oil furnace .02 grams/hour (0.48 grams/day)
Pellet Stove 2.4 grams/hour ( 56.6 grams/day)
Single Simulated Log 8 grams/hour
Certified Wood Stove 8.2 grams/hour (196.8 grams/day) (1000 CHARACTERS)
Non-certified wood stove 15.6 grams/hour
Fireplace-hardwood (36 lbs. or 16 kg burned over 3 hours.) 30 grams/hour
Fireplace-softwood (31 lbs.or 14kg burned over 3 hours.) 59 grams/hour.
Auto-with Catalytic Converter .66 grams/hour
Auto-without Catalytic Converter 3.5 grams/hour.
Auto-smoking 6 grams/hour
Diesel 14 ton Truck or Bus 36 grams/hour
Diesel Truck or Bus 70 grams/hour
References:
1986 SG Report pgs. 129, 130, 136
EPA Report “Technical Data… Commercial Aviation” 09/29/95
http://www.burningissues.org/comp-emmis-part-sources.htm
Sorry to hear it for your live music venues which features local entertainment and the regular work for these musicians.
They will cut back and become DJ/Karoke clubs and/or close.
Not sure which is worse, frankly.
09
The Father of Canada’s Universal Health Care
http://www.mta.ca/about_canada/study_guide/doctors/delivery.html
Your comment about Big Tobacco may have been true at one time but between the Master Settlement Agreement and the new FDA regs the Tobacco companies are virtually powerless to fight back. They have virtually had their first amendment rights stripped from them.
http://tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/09/tobacco-company-lawsuit-against-fda.html
First it is important to remember that the ban is not about the smokers, it is about the people working in these environments. The potential long-term effects are almost irrelevant when you factor in the immediate effects that the smoke can have on those who are allergic to it.
As a person who is allergic to smoke I get an instant headache when I am exposed to it, a very unpleasant feeling. The headaches are not so severe that I have to stop working, but uncomfortable enough to make me less productive or less friendly to customers. And about half of my jobs in my lifetime have had some sort of smoking inside.
Some might say that I should just not work at a place that has smoking, but this is easier said than done. For some people (especially in these times) there is no room to be picky about where a person can get a job.
I work at a hotel right now, and as a result I have heard many people from other cities say that when their city started a ban it really did not hurt businesses at all. In fact I have heard a few people say that business has actually IMPROVED because more people than before will consider going to an establishment when it is non smoking.
This makes sense when you think about it because the presence of smokers will deter non-smokers (the last numbers I have seen show that less than one out of four people smoke http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/05facts/earlyrelease200506.htm). Generally the presence of non-smokers will not deter a smoker from entering a place of business. A person doesn’t go to a bar EXCLUSIVELY to smoke, nor does a person go to a restaurant EXCLUSIVELY to smoke, they go there to drink and eat (respectively). While a smoker may do both while they are there, smoking is generally not the focal point of choosing to go to a specific place of business… basically not allowing smoking opens the door to a whole new market to tap into.
Smoking ban proponents ALWAYS say that bans don’t cause business losses. That is simply a LIE! These people lie ALOT. THey lie about the dangers of smoke in small businesses. They LIE about heart attacks dropping in towns with smoking bans. (These bans DO NOT ban tobacco use, just the use in a bar or pool hall.) They lie about second hand smoke death rates. (There are NONE!) The STATE and the FEDERAL governments are the ones who are addicted to tobacco revenue. They have decided to jump on this bandwagon to demonize smokers so that they can tax them to death! THe pharma company behind the ban movement sells Nicoderm, Nicorette, Nicotrol, Nicoderm CQ, and Chantix. This is WHY NO ONE is trying to ban the selling of nicotine. ALL sales of nicotine replacement products would stop, and the nannies would be out of work with the tavern owners and their employees!
Maybe we should have banned smoking and tabcco 240 years ago we wouldn’t have to worry about the 4th of July. We would still be under the control of England. We never would hve been able to afford the revolution if it weren’t for the founding indusry of the Americas, tabacco. Wisconsin would just be part of a place called “New England”.
I will smoke on the streets of Milwaukee, I will take it to court. The police and courts have better things to do than chase a smoker. In a day when we have to close fire stations, yes the pokice have better things to do. Our tax dollars have better places to go.
All smokers, if you get a ticket, take it to court, fight it even if you will pay. They will see it’s a crazy thing to try to do. Let’s ban drinking at Miller Park, call “The Brewers” “The Dryers”, let’s do away with Summerfest. If you can’t drink a beer at Summerfest I think a lot of people wouldn’t go. Let’s ban beer everywhere except your house. People won’t come to Milwaukee or Wisconsin for all the festivals and fairs we have. More people are killed in drunk driving accidents than second hand smoke.
I hsve nothing against the idea of smoke free restuants, go outside, if you don’t get arrested.