Issue #778

“She might have fooled me, but she didn’t fool my mother.”
– Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates in “Psycho”

USA: The Military v. Marlboro: We are losing a war in Iraq and Syria, the military is shrinking dangerously as global threats are growing, and yet the Pentagon is mustering its forces against tobacco products. The Defense Department is studying a ban on the sale of cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco on bases and ships.

USA: NJ: South Jersey Town Bans Smoking on Streets, Sidewalks, Stoops and Steps. But you are still allowed to smoke inside your Gloucester City home. So, if you’re caught smoking or chewing or vaping outside the Knights of Columbus building or Ben’s Barber Shop or your home…

USA: TX: The Lubbock City Council will meet this week and could vote to approve an ordinance that would ban smoking in all bars and restaurants across the city. The ordinance would not only apply to cigarettes and other forms of tobacco, but to e-cigarettes and vapor as well. The proposed language would also regulate drivers who smoke in certain circumstances.

China: Health: Chinese researchers discover why so many writers are heavy smokers – Chinese scientists show heavy smoking boosts the imagination. But the researchers won’t be pursuing this finding, they say, as it is “politically incorrect.”

UK: FREE FOREST EVENT. November 4, cocktails, canapes, live music and heated smoking terrace. If you haven’t yet registered and would like to join us for this special event, RSVP.

UK: London Update: London Mayor Boris Johnson’s Health Committee, “Better Health for London”, wants to ban smoking in 20,000 acres of London parks, along with Parliament Square and Trafalgar Square. also announced a number of other measures in an attempt to reduce obesity. These include moves to surpress alcohol consumption and increase the exercise uptake amongst Londoners, in order to “make London a healthier, slimmer, fitter, city.”

UK: Nanny State Update: Watch out: the anti-smoking fanatics now want to regulate drinking. The anti-smoking lobby has been offering advice to the House of Lords on how to regulate drinking. Draconian moves could follow. It is tempting to dismiss these demands as preposterous. This would be most unwise.

Denmark: Big Pharma. By Klaus Kjellerup. MEDICINAL KORRUPTION. Anti-ryge eksperter var betalt af Big Pharma.

World Health Organization on Ebola: “The World Health Organization Admits Botching Response to Ebola Outbreak.” This article contains some damning statements, such as, “WHO’s country offices in Africa are politically motivated,” and “What should be the WHO’s strongest regional offices because of the enormity of the health challenges is actually the weakest technically and full of political appointments.”

World Health Organization: ‘Broke’ WHO host 1.6million caviar-fuelled beano: UN pockets “bribe” from Russia: The WHO accepted $800k handout from Putin to put the #COP6 tobacco control convention in Moscow. The article focusses on the cost of the whole shebang and sets it against the WHO’s poverty pleas regarding the Ebola outbreak. All well and good, but much of the cost could have been covered by that nice Mr Putin, I suppose. Then, world governments were ordered to implement these proposals – from a meeting which was compromised by pharma lobbying, exclusion of press scrutiny, lack of proper voting, intimidation of delegates and utter disregard for evidence – immediately.