As some of you are aware I was reciently diagnosed with cataracts. While some studies will suggest that it was due to my occupation as a broadcast engineer, the anti’s will claim that it was smoking that caused it. After all they have studies that clearly show that smoking causes everything from V.D. to drive by shootings. Think I am wrong? Look at their recent blog entries. They make claims that smoking bans reduce heart attacks by 1/3. These studies have been debunked a thousand times over. As a matter of fact the biggest study done by RAND Corporation, Congressional Budget Office, University of Wisconsin, and Stanford University shows this to be totally false. Do they mention the biggest study ever done on the subject that included our own University? They praise outdoor smoking bans even though they know damn well that cigarette smoke outdoors is insignificant. They bash the e-cigarette even though they don’t have a shred of evidence to back up their claim. Yet in these times of economic hardship they keep pushing for government funding even though they do not have a shred of integrity. They make claims that smoke free laws save health care costs even though it has been proven false in study after study. In the same blog entry they claim higher absenteeism even though the only studies making that claim are from anti-smoking groups or are funded by anti-smoking groups, who are you going to believe, anti-smoking groups or those in industry? They must have given ACORN lessons in dishonest practices. It is high time to cut all public funding to all lobby groups. They have shown again that they have no integrity whatsoever.

As predicted the draconian tax that Doyle put on cigarettes has already promoted criminal behavior.  This is only the beginning.

Cigarettes have suddenly become a hot item for burglars.

More than 100 cartons of smokes valued at up to $7,500 have been stolen from businesses on Madison’s east side since Aug. 20, police reported. The thieves reportedly are shattering glass doors, grabbing cartons of cigarettes and fleeing before police arrive.

Madison police spokesman Joel DeSpain said this cigarette crime wave is part of a national trend. The state’s cigarette tax went up by 75 cents a pack on Sept. 1, which also is playing a role in the cigarette heists.

Christopher Snowdon Author of Velvet Glove, Iron Fist now has his own Blog.

More B.S. from Smoke Free Wisconsin their latest blog Are you somber yet. It is ironic that the same day that smoke free posts this blog entry.

Science Daily’s Article “Doctors fear asking mentally ill to quit” might bring attention to a vulnerable population who could also be helped by the increase in price of cigarettes this month. “People with mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety are the heaviest smokers in the country, but their doctors are afraid to ask them to quit,” the article states. It continues to say, “They assume that if their patients try to quit smoking, their mental disorders will get worse.”

The irony is that today that Dr Michael Siegel exposes their ties to Big Pharma.

Nowhere in the press release is it revealed that the lead author and senior author of the paper have financial conflicts of interests with Big Pharma.

According to the published study:

* Dr Hitsman has consulted for Pinney Associates, subcontracted by GlaxoSmithKline (2006); and
* Dr George has received grant support from Pfizer, Sepracor, Targacept, and Sanofi-aventis, and is a consultant to Pfizer, Prempharm, Glaxo-SmithKline, Eli Lilly, Janssen-Ortho, and Evotec.

Pfizer is the manufacturer of Nicotrol and Chantix. GlaxoSmithKline is the manufacturer of Zyban and NiQuitin.

The rest of the story, therefore, is that two of the authors of this study have financial conflicts of interest with Big Pharma, and specifically, with companies that manufacture the very smoking cessation drugs that they are recommending be used with every patient.

Of course Smoke Free Wisconsin loves to paint smokers with the addict brush so that they can push their handlers smoking cessation products.

Nationally as well as in Wisconsin there is progress being made in the area of addressing co-addictions (alcohol and/or other drugs and nicotine) and mental health issues in current smokers.

When will people wake up. Groups like Smoke Free Wisconsin are nothing but front groups for Big Pharma and there is nothing free about them. In a free society an adult is free to make decisions for themselves and property owners are free to decide what legal products can or can’t be used on their own property. Groups Like Smoke Free promote forced behavior modification through draconian taxes and stripping owners of their property rights. Of course if you put Free in your name that is a good thing right? Of course what it means is that they are free to force their will on everyone, everywhere with no regard for anyone else’s rights.

Smoke Free Wisconsin is at it again! Spreading lies and misinformation. On their site that the tobacco companies are fighting the FDA regulations and are trying to block the regulations from being enacted. Of course this comes compleate with a picture of a half man half devil.

As expected R. J. Reynolds (makers of Camel and Winston) joined Lorillard (makers of Newport) and others to file a federal law suit in hopes to block the new FDA regulations.

Of course Big Tobacco wants to prevent FDA regulation implementation!

Of course they fail to mention the fact that a good portion of the anti-smoking groups were in bed with the biggest Tobacco Company of all. The biggest tobacco company had a seat at the table, helped draft the bill which insured their market share Is there any wonder that these anti-smoking groups and the FDA are fighting the use of the e-cigarette? Could it be that it is a non-Big Parma alternative that might actually work?

WASHINGTON — Altria Client Services Inc., on behalf of the nation’s biggest cigarette maker, spent more than $3.9 million in the second quarter to lobby for a bill that gives the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate the industry and other issues, according to a recent disclosure form.

Altria ( MO – news – people ) also lobbied the federal government on legislation involving health care issues and cigarette trafficking in the April-June period, according to the report filed July 20 with the House clerk’s office.
Richmond, Va.-based Altria Group Inc. owns Marlboro maker Philip Morris USA and UST Inc. ( UST – news – people ), the U.S. leader in smokeless tobacco with brands such as Copenhagen and Skoal.

Altria had been a strong supporter of the bill that gives industry oversight to the FDA.

The tobacco companies that are fighting it are fighting for their first amendment rights. The same rights that Smoke Free Wisconsin enjoys spreading their lies and disinformation, they would deny the tobacco companies.

Former Tobacco Control Activist has an excellent blog entry on the subject in conclusion he wrote.

The rest of the story is that this lawsuit exposes not only several constitutionally problematic provisions of the FDA law, but that it also exposes the absurdity of the very premise of the entire law.

If the truth is on their side, why do they lie?

Over the past few months Smoke Free Wisconsin has been campaigning to restore taxpayer funding to Tobacco Control. Over the last few weeks I have been showing their ties to Big Pharma! I showed their ties to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) . I also showed their ties to Pfizer. I even exposed their lies on the tax increase and the e-cigarette. Oh and then I forgot to mention how they take outdoor EPA/DNR standards and bastardize them and apply them indoors.

Much has been said about Astroturf as of late and in April I exposed Smoke Free Wisconsin’s Astroturf claiming to be Taverns Clearing the Air, in August I exposed how Tobacco Control claimed that group such as ours were astroturf. What I did not do is make the connection that the astroturf organization “Taverns Clearing the Air” had to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). According to RWJF they helped produce the educational brochure. But I would call it astroturf not educational but here is the actual brochure right off of RWJF’s site. I will let you decide. http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/20090211wistavernmailer.pdf

Again should dishonest organizations such as this get one single dime of taxpayers money. I think it is time we look into how much money Big Pharma has contributed to politicians. Who will help?

WASHINGTON – Pfizer Inc., the world’s largest drug maker, will pay a record $2.3 billion civil and criminal penalty over unlawful prescription drug promotions, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.

The department said the $2.3 billion settlement included a $1.2 billion criminal fine, the largest criminal fine in U.S. history. The agreement also included a criminal forfeiture of $105 million.

Pfizer has been a driving force behind the smoking bans, hasn’t anyone noticed the massive Chantix commercials on TV starting a week before the tax increase? How many times have you seen this one in the last week!

Why do I bring up Pfizer, well last week I showed the ties between Smoke Free Wisconsin and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Well in just the 4th quarter of 2008 Smoke Free Wisconsin received $14,000.00 in Grants from Pfizer. It’s interesting that they don’t mention their Big Pharma ties while they go on making false accusations that e-cigarettes were products produced by Big Tobacco to get kids hooked. Of course they can’t have people using products that wouldn’t put money in their handlers pockets.

Phizer has their finger in every aspect of smoking bans and smoking cessation programs.

Dr Siegel exposed some of this last year.

As I have reported here, the national recommendation that Chantix and other smoking cessation drugs be used to treat nicotine dependence in every smoking patient, including the conclusion that Chantix is a superior treatment to the nicotine patch alone and the decision to recommend Chantix despite its reported potential adverse effects, was made by a national expert panel that had severe financial conflicts of interests.

The panel’s chair – Dr. Michael C. Fiore – “reported that he served as an investigator on research studies at the University of Wisconsin (UW) that were supported wholly or in part by four pharmaceutical companies, and in 2005 received compensation from one pharmaceutical company. In addition, he reported that, in 1998, the UW appointed him to a named Chair, which was made possible by an unrestricted gift to the UW from GlaxoWellcome.”

Importantly, Dr. Fiore has reported “that he has lectured and consulted for Pfizer and has served as an investigator on research studies at the University of Wisconsin (UW) that were supported by GlaxoSmithKline, Nabi, Pfizer, and sanofi-aventis.” Pfizer is the company that markets Chantix.

Not to mention their financing a course for doctors through the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

A Pfizer promotional campaign for the controversial drug Chantix – which includes financing a course for doctors through the University of Wisconsin-Madison – has helped the drug dominate the prescription smoking-treatment market while burying mention of its serious side effects.

Chantix now accounts for 90% of smoking cessation prescriptions, even though the Food and Drug Administration has been investigating the drug for a rash of serious side effects, such as suicidal behavior and blackouts.

None of the side effects are mentioned in the UW continuing education online course, which is paid for by Pfizer. The course directly mentions only Chantix as a first-line treatment, even though the drug is one of seven first-line treatments, according to national guidelines.

I think it is high time to end all public funding to Tobacco control including the MSA.

I know I have posted the following before but it needs repeating

The Marshfield News-Herald has a column that is so full of lies and disinformation that it is almost laughable.

On Tuesday, the price of a pack of cigarettes jumps another 75 cents. That new tax, added to the federal tax increase in April, makes total taxes on a pack of cigarettes $3.53 — and a total price of $6 to $7 per pack.

There will be some bitter complaints about this, and they’re understandable.

That’s an enormous tax on the fifth of adults in this state who smoke, many of whom are lower-income. (About a third of lower-income adults smoke.) There are also those who argue that the state is balancing its budget on the backs of smokers.

But these arguments cloud the purpose of increasing the price of cigarettes.

In public health, we view a cigarette tax increase solely as a market incentive to quit smoking — or to avoid the addiction in the first place.

This claim is almost laughable. All this does is create a black market for the product. This has been proven all over the world, all we have to do is look to our neighbors to the north on this subject. It did not stop teens from smoking as those involved in the black market are already breaking the law and have little incentive not to sell to youth.

Debbie McCulloch, supervisor for the tobacco youth prevention program at Ottawa Public Health says cheap, illegal cigarettes directly target the often cash-strapped teenager.

“That lower price is really a huge problem in terms of younger people having easier access,” said McCulloch.

If they know where to get it, teens can typically buy a plastic bag containing 200 illegal “rollies” for between $10 and $15 – compared to a legal carton, which costs between $70 and $90, said RCMP Sgt. Marc Laporte.

“Because they are not purchased through stores, which require ID, there is no barrier,” said Laporte. “They are more available to teens because instead of sending the older kids to buy cigarettes for the younger ones – the word gets around on who is selling the contraband cigarettes.”

Not to mention the last increase didn’t work!

Although the Quit Tobacco Now program appeared to be successful in helping enrollees quit, it did not attract the large number of smokers organizers intended to reach, said Judy Burrows, director for chronic disease prevention at the Marathon County Health Department.

“We created a model we thought would meet people’s needs,” Burrows said.

The smoking cessation classes ceased after grant money to pay for them ran out, although an affiliated support group will continue through the end of the year. Officials from the Health Department and local health care systems plan to meet today to discuss alternatives, Burrows said.

When the state increased its cigarette tax by $1 per pack at the beginning of the year, health officials expected more smokers to enroll in Quit Tobacco Now

Tobacco-related diseases also cost Wisconsin’s economy more than $1 billion in lost worker productivity.

The only ones making these claims is Tobacco Control actual industry says otherwise!

According to the Bureau of National Affairs and the US Chamber of commerce, businesses that ban smoking don’t really see much in terms of benefit. In fact, according to the BNA, 95% of companies that banned smoking saw no financial savings at all and the US Chamber says that “no significant employee absences can be directly attributed to smoking…”

So, even on Tuesday, the new price for a pack of cigarettes will still be easily outstripped by its actual health-related cost to society — $9.53 per pack.

This one has been debunked so many times that I can’t believe they keep repeating it.

Obese individuals had the highest health care costs from age 20 to 56, and obese individuals and smokers had a higher rate of heart disease than healthy individuals, the study found. However, the study found that obese individuals and smokers had lower lifetime health care costs than healthy individuals because they died earlier.

On average, healthy individuals lived 84 years, compared with 80 years for obese individuals and 77 years for smokers, the study found. Healthy individuals on average had lifetime health care costs of $417,000, compared with $371,000 for obese individuals and $326,000 for smokers, according to the study.

Vanderbilt University economist Kip Viscusi studied the net costs of smoking-related spending and savings and found that for every pack of cigarettes smoked, the country reaps a net cost savings of 32 cents.

We all pay for the cost of tobacco addiction. So dramatically reducing smoking rates is in our collective public health interest. It’s in our state’s economic interest. And it’s in our own financial interest.

What costs you have yet to show any! Ahhh “Collective” a socialist term or is it BORG.

Dona Wininsky is director of Public Policy and Communications for the American Lung Association in Wisconsin and President of the SmokeFree Wisconsin board of directors.

Ahh I see she is the head of two organizations heavily funded by Big Pharma! Dr Siegel points this out in today’s blog.

If the truth is on their side, why do they lie?

With the next cigarette tax looming it is time for each and every one of you to join a tea party or send a teabag to each of the remember these legislators mentioning the cigarette tax and taxation without representation.

Here is an excellent tea party commercial!