Tonight I initiated stage one of my assault on the anti-smoking movement here in Wisconsin. I have decided that politics, policy, rights and common decency don’t work, so it is time to fight fallacy with fact and fall back on that wonderfully objective argument called hard science. Below is a copy of the letter that I sent off to involved WI government and advocacy groups in the hopes of forcing a response from them that I can use in future arguments.
I will be posting their responses as I receive them.
Open Letter to Smoke Free Wisconsin Requesting Documentation for Smoke Free Wisconsin Health Claims
Dear Smoke Free Wisconsin et al.;
cc: American Lung Association of Wisconsin, American Cancer Society (Wisconsin), Wisconsin State Senator Harsdorf, Wisconsin Assembly Representative Hraychuck, Governor Jim Doyle, Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services
The Breathe Free Wisconsin Act (SB150) has been based upon health claims from Smoke Free Wisconsin (SFW). On behalf of people of Wisconsin, the one million, two hundred and twenty eight thousand smokers and the thousands of small businesses who will be affected, I am requesting clarification and validation for those health claims. To institute this invasive and extreme smoking ban, the public needs to learn if any concrete evidence can be provided to validate these claims. A law of this magnitude, with wide-spread social impact and based upon SFW’s unsubstantiated sensationalist claims, needs to be documented for public review and shared in understandable format. Reports containing computer generated statistics of mortalities and illness are not sufficient.
Also insufficient are the previous Surgeon General Carmona’s 2006 Press Release, Executive Summary, or quotes which did not reflect the contents of his 700-plus page smoking report. Dr. Carmona’s report simply rehashed previous Surgeon General claims, made alarmist statements such as referencing Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) as being more toxic than plutonium which is hardly a relevant comparison as Plutonium-239 is far more ominous sounding than it is toxic, and republished previous Tobacco Control studies which had never been able to document any conclusions more definite than finding a “causal relationship” between ETS and health threats.
One particular abuse example for this fully justifiable request to require accurate documentation for Wisconsin tobacco-smoke-health-threats, claimed by SFW, is the distorted claim that ETS kills 53,000 nonsmoking Americans every year. Why the need to be deceptive? SFW’s claim of 53,000 deaths doesn’t coincide with EPA or OSHA reports and seem to be based on a sole American Cancer Society (ACS) claim. In comparison, the EPA estimates between 10,960 to 19,720 cancer and heart disease-related deaths could be tied to ETS. How is this gross exaggeration justifiable?
The American Cancer Society has implied through incomplete references that breathing in an environment containing (or that has contained) second hand smoke, is the same thing as actively smoking and that any exposure to ETS is harmful to one’s health. While the American Lung Association, American Cancer Society and anti-tobacco advocacy groups (Smoke Free Wisconsin et al.) are motivated by the elimination of smoking, a much more objective approach would be to look at OSHA regulations which are governed by the objective of ensuring overall health and safety. As such, OSHA does not have any regulations regarding ETS and has found that the main chemical compounds found in ETS that are covered by OSHA regulations do not exceed permissible exposure limits under normal situations (per 29 CFR 1910.1000 Standard Interpretation dated 24 February, 2003).
Similarly, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) performed a study of non-smoking employee’s exposure to respirable suspended particulate matter (RSP) via ETS during a normal shift work at taverns and restaurants that allow smoking. The study found that maximum chemical levels attained during sampling only reached 15.4% of OSHA’s exposure limit and included solanesol, 3-ethenyl pyridine, and nicotine and RSP levels were only 30%-50% of American Medical Association estimates. Another similar study from the Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology looked at 1564 tavern and restaurant workers nation wide over a 24-hour period and found their exposure to be far lower than numbers assumed by the EPA or OSHA. These studies are in stark contrast to the sensationalist opinions rendered by SFW and used as justification for a statewide smoking ban.
Until a public statement or press release making visible and crystal clear the distortions of
these (and other) sensationalist claims to laymen, elected officials and the news media, the intentionally deceptive damage cannot even begin to be reversed. The public is being terrorized by phony health claims, and needs clarification that many ETS chemical compounds such as n-Nitrosodimethylamine (as the referenced element for the “16 cigarette” media blitz perpetuated by the ACS), are common carcinogens and threaten us most seriously in our drinking water and food supply .
Solid proof is required for Wisconsin (or any other US governing body) to justify bending our US Constitutional Republic’s governmental framework and dismissing the protected liberties in several of its Amendments. The Breathe Free Wisconsin Act basically ignores our First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth and Fourteenth Constitutional Amendments. Considering the serious state-wide repercussions from this law, justification is required, not vague interpretations of “causal association” health threats.
In addition, financial ties such as ACS’ relationship with nicotine replacement products manufactured by the pharmaceutical industry, who hope to increase sales because of this ban, should also be published to avoid misrepresentation of charitable interests and to supply full and honest disclosure to interested parties.
Therefore, Wisconsin residents, Wisconsin Legislature and the Wisconsin news media need to be supplied with actual documented identities of those injured or killed for the Breathe Free Wisconsin Act to be legitimately recognized.
Sincerely,
/Signed/
Ryan Evans
[Read the Comment thread via the original post at Pro Patria]
Filed under: Wisconsin Ban | Tagged: wisconsin smoking ban
