Future CDC Study on Economic Impact of Smoke-Free Policies on Bars and Restaurants

By Christian Last updated Oct 22, 2017

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
2157 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C.? 20515

Attention: Congressman Dennis Kucinich, Congressman Michael Turner, Congressman Jim Jordan

Re: Future CDC Study on Economic Impact of Smoke-Free Policies on Bars and Restaurants

Dear Honorable Ohio Members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform:

This letter serves as a formal request for an investigation into the CDC and CDC Foundation by the Buckeye Liquor Permit Holders Association, representing several hundred liquor permit establishments in Ohio.?

On November 30, 2011, the CDC and CDC Foundation put out this press release[i] which clearly shows that this study, which has yet to be conducted, has a predetermined outcome.

It is funded by Pfizer, maker of Chantix.

The press release states, in part: “the CDC Foundation and CDC have launched a new initiative to study the economic impact of smoke-free policies on restaurants and bars in nine states… While the health benefits of smoke-free policies are clear, the perception that they might negatively affect restaurant and bar business can pose a barrier to the broader introduction and acceptance of these policies.”

Further into the press release, Director Thomas Frieden is quoted as saying “Making worksites, restaurants, and bars smoke-free saves lives, increases productivity, reduces health care costs, and doesn’t hurt business.”

The article also states “As part of Pfizer’s commitment to addressing important public health needs, we are proud to partner with the CDC Foundation on this research initiative,” said Freda C. Lewis-Hall, M.D., FAPA, chief medical officer and executive vice president, Pfizer… “We hope that the results of this analysis will advance efforts to reduce secondhand smoke and the serious health risks it poses to nonsmokers.”

Dr. Michael Siegel[ii], tobacco control specialist and Professor with the University of Boston, writes in his December 7, 2011 blog: “If smoke-free laws do not hurt business, then haven’t we already answered the question? This statement by CDC’s director seems to imply that we have answered the question before having started the research. If that’s the case, then what’s the point of doing the research? Isn’t this a waste of Pfizer’s money?

What’s most interesting to me is not that CDC appears to have answered the question before starting the research, but that no one even attempted to hide that fact. The CDC director comes right out and tells us the answer to the research question, before Pfizer’s money is even put to work.

This also raises the question of how objective the research process can be if the agency conducting the study has already drawn a conclusion.”

This is an outrage!? Our organization has watched as members and friends have depleted their lifelong savings to keep their doors open to their bars, bowling alleys, etc. after Ohio’s draconian smoking ban.

Some of these small business owners have sold their businesses at a loss while others have lost not only their bars but their homes through bankruptcy.? To read that the CDC and CDC Foundation are complicit in covering up these facts is sickening.

How is RTI International going to reach any other conclusion than what the CDC has already announced?? Now that they know what the CDC expects the finding to be, all they have to do is search until they find numbers they can use to meet the CDC’s expectations.

This November 20, 2011 article,[iii] titled “Statisticians Can Prove Almost Anything, A New Study Finds” shows how statistics are manipulated to reach an outcome by these researchers proving a false-positive.

The article states “In effect turning the weapons of statistical analysis against their own side, the trio managed to prove something demonstrably false, and thereby cast a wide shadow of doubt on any researcher who claims his findings are “statistically significant.”? In “many cases, a researcher is more likely to falsely find evidence that an effect exists than to correctly find evidence that it does not,” they write.

More than likely, some of the regular tricks of the trade will be applied to the CDC study such as combining restaurants and bars using unemployment data, knowing restaurants outnumber bars 5:1 while restaurant employees outnumber bar employees 10:1.

Or perhaps they’ll use the trick of sales tax data while factoring in nothing for increased prices of goods, which is partially passed off to consumers.? This trick was used in Ohio with no factor for a 28% bottled beer increase or 41% keg increase.? Anyone who owns a business knows sales taxes to not reflect profits or losses.

It is a travesty that a federal agency has taken the lead in this fraud.

Our government is covering up the losses these government mandated policies are having on an entire segment of the hospitality industry.

Bar owners in states across this country are tired of the lies and manipulation from our government in promoting policies that not only destroy their property rights, but they keep them from feeding their families while bankrupting many mom and pop businesses that have been in families for generations.

As Ohio members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, it falls within the realm of your Committee to investigate government abuse and fraud.? If this study reports any results other than the truth that bars lose up to 60% of their revenue after the passage of a smoking ban, we will trot in bar owners from all over the United States to testify before Congress.

It’s time the lie that “smoke-free policies do not harm businesses” ends.? The plain facts are that there is economic harm to many bars, bowling alleys and even some small family restaurants.? We expect a full investigation.

Sincerely,

Buckeye Liquor Permit Holders Association
3850 Montgomery Rd.
Cincinnati, OH 45212
Prepared & signed by Pam Parker, Regional Director, BLPHA (614)565-6560 (media contact for this complaint)
Signed:
Patrick Carroll, President, BLPHA
Jim Hurd, Vice-President, BLPHA

Press ReleaseDr. Michael Siegel

“Statisticians Can Prove Almost Anything, A New Study Finds”