It reads:  The #1 Killer in the American Workplace is...  Secondhand Smoke.

     Strictly for arguments sake, let’s go with the numbers and statements they used in
their ad.  They claim secondhand smoke (SHS) causes 3000 deaths from lung cancer of
otherwise healthy nonsmokers, 62,000 deaths from heart disease, 26,000 new asthma
cases, up to one million cases of aggravated asthma and up to 300,000 cases of bronchitis
and pneumonia in toddlers.  These are figures that have been reported repeatedly to
afflict the entire nation  (although many groups inflate these numbers at will).   How
many of these numbers are actually work-related?  Spread them out across the nation and
if you come up with two service oriented employees what do you have?  Causation or
coincidence?  I drew this number out of a hat but you get the idea.  You should also be
wary of qualifying words such as “up to.”  When someone says something is anywhere
“up to”  (fill in the blank) you should demand to know what is it, really.  It also begs to
be questioned what “otherwise healthy nonsmokers” means. It couldn’t possibly mean
that had these 3000 people not been subjected to smoke they would have never gotten
sick.  Yet that is exactly what they mean, logic be damned, and forget about the fact that
nonsmokers who are not exposed to tobacco smoke also get lung cancer.  They quote one
bartender who wrote to the City Council favoring a ban.  One cannot and should not
speak for all.  Finally,  to create an atmosphere of high emotion they throw in numbers of
toddlers affected.  I don’t know about you but I don’t recall ever seeing a toddler working
behind the bar.

     Did you notice what they did?  They want to ban smoking in bars and nightclubs to
protect the workers now but to back up their agenda had to resort to statistics that have
practically nothing to do with these establishments. They stated their intended purpose in
large print and then inserted some fancy footwork into the body to have you believe the
figures are somehow connected to their aim.  They mixed the pot to dupe the reader and
unless you’re familiar with their tactics you won’t ever realize they’re doing it.  It works
in their favor all the time because they know the majority of the public will read the large
bold headline, skim the text and assume they have their facts straight.  No one will bother
to check their sources but they surely will remember the large bold headline.
 
      According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the #1 killer in the American
workplace is transportation incidents.  They further state that information on
work-related fatal illnesses are not reported in BLS tracking records and are excluded
because the incubation period of many occupational illnesses and the difficulty of linking
illnesses to work make identification of people who may have become ill because of their
work environment problematic.  The BLS is admitting that there is no positive way to
know that a worker’s illness was brought on by their surroundings at work.  If the
Department of Labor can’t make this claim then how in the world does the Coalition for
a Smoke-Free City know better than they do?  Rather than trying to save bartenders,
waiters and waitresses from the “harmful effects” of SHS they should refocus their
efforts to reducing violence.  Again, according to the BLS, it seems that, nation-wide, this
group of workers are most at risk to being fatally assaulted or the victim of a violent act.

     Many of the Environmental Tobacco Smoke studies have been discredited by
respected members and organizations of the scientific field .   Anti-smokers continue to
stand behind an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study that was struck down as
junk science by a Federal Court judge.  That study classified SHS as a Group A
carcinogen but the judge, and later, the Congressional Research Service,  found that this
classification was arrived at unscientifically. Of course the EPA reaffirms their
conclusions.  With that in mind, it needs to be noted that 20 years ago the Centers for
Disease Control added saccharin to the official list of carcinogens, only to remove it from
the list this year.   It seems they were mistaken (oops).  Government agencies are not
infallible.

      The biggest single problem is that few people understand how health risk studies
actually operate and the anti-smoking community uses that fact to their advantage.  We
mistake correlation for causation and coincidence for conviction.  The Statistical
Assessment Service (STATS) is a group that keeps the record straight against what the
media and the fanatics toss at the public.  They give a wide berth to epidemiological
studies, which is the technique used in studying  SHS, and warn us that we are
continually fooled into thinking we know something due to the results of these studies
when in fact we really don’t.  STATS has said that the statistical evidence being thrown
around about SHS has “more holes than a wiffle ball.”

      When anti-smokers tell the public that there is no evidence of financial harm due to
restrictions they fail to mention that separate smoking sections still exist in restaurants
around NYC and a person can freely smoke in any bar.  There may be no evidence of lost
revenue because everyone is still basically being accommodated.  I believe this is called
lying by omission.   These owners will indeed suffer financial losses if bans are
expanded.  Just ask owners in California where smoking is entirely banned in bars.  They
will personally relate the financial hardships they are experiencing.  If current and
potential employees do not like smoking they should seek employment elsewhere.

     The Coalition for a Smoke-Free City is headed by an ardent anti-smoker, Joe Cherner.
He has been active in restricting smokers’ rights for many years.  He became involved
when a loved one died of lung cancer that he attributes to smoking.  However true that
may or may not be, his personal tragedy is just that, personal, and condolences are
extended.  It does not give him the right to funnel his anguish towards imposing his views
on everyone else.  He is on a mission.  He feels he could not save his own so he will seek
to save everyone else.  As well intended as that may be, it is misguided and an intrusion
into the lives of adults who are quite capable of making their own lifestyle choices and
that includes smoking.  He proposes legislation to restrict SHS but his true ultimate goal,
like the rest of the anti-smoking organizations, is to attain a smoke-free society.
Restrictions on smoking is merely a vehicle towards the smoke-free utopia they pray for.
Yes, pray, because it has become more of a religion for them than based on any sound
science.  It is with religious fervor that they preach the dangers of the evil tobacco and
those that expose others to it and once they gain a following they will push their moral
righteousness to the limit.

     Their ability to pay for a full page ad is the result of the largest, unfair transfer of
money in the country today.  Taxes paid by smokers go directly back to these groups to
use this money against us.  We are left financially strapped and unable to defend
ourselves in the same manner.    Smokers are actually paying people to tell us how we
should live our lives.  It’s a robbery and a hostage situation all rolled into one.  In a word,
criminal.  Hostages are known to acquire a particular syndrome.  After a period of time
they become sympathetic to their captors.  Don’t fall for any of the mind games groups
such as these are perpetrating on you.

     We all know that smoking in offices and many restaurants practically no longer exists.
They have succeeded in corrupting the politicians with junk science that claims SHS
harms the health of non-smokers, thereby pushing the smoking workforce out into the
streets.  That wasn’t enough for them and have moved on to Step #2 in their agenda.  For
them there is no compromise.  Give them an inch, accommodate their wishes, and instead
of appreciation they move in for the kill.

     This group claims they are not prohibitionists.  They are worse.  They are coercionists.
That is a much sneakier threat, nullifying individual will.  Their goal is for a smoke-free
society.  Banning smoking in bars is merely a rest stop on the road they are on.  Smokers
and all those that believe in accommodation for everyone cannot afford them any more
traveling privileges.  It’s time to siphon their gas.

     Remain alert and stand guard because if you don’t, Step #3 isn’t far behind... banning
smoking in your own homes.