The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights Newsletter The United Pro Choice Smokers Rights Newsletter

Is The MSA Unraveling? What’s fueling this renewed controversy and the need to “fix” the MSA? In short, it seems that in solving the dispute between Big Tobacco and 46 state attorneys general, the MSA laid the groundwork for today’s equally fierce battles.
The hotlinks to individual state web sites below will enable you to obtain more detail about what’s pending in your own vicinity.

Notice Anything Peculiar about these two studies? The first one is the antis study where they only survey 1,500. The second done for Forest, surveys 10,000. Yet ASH says the Forest survey means nothing.

Smoking Ban an Attack on Freedom. By Mark Brnovich. Either way, you have no right to use government to force an owner to make his private property smoke-free. By imposing such restrictions, the proponents of a smoking ban risk causing more harm to society than secondhand smoke could ever do.

US Sees Fall In Anti-tobacco Lawsuits. The sharpest fall has come in cost recovery cases, which are initiated by institutions such as medical associations against tobacco companies to recover the costs of treating smokers’ ailments.

Mold blamed for breathing problems. A rare ailment known as hypersensitivity pneumonitis also was associated with indoor mold exposure in susceptible people.
Genes Appear to Play a Role in Development of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.
List of smoking-related diseases expanded. The report said current evidence is not conclusive enough to say smoking causes colorectal cancer, liver cancer, prostate cancer or erectile disfunction.

You Really May Be Addicted To Chocolate. Brain scans show changes similar to cocaine addicts, study finds.
Conquering Caffeine. If you can answer “yes” to these questions, it’s likely that you’re addicted to caffeine.

We Are Everyday People:
Is Big Brother riding shotgun? By Brian Cooley. Your car is spying on you. If it was made after the early ’90s, it very likely has a black box recorder in it, not unlike the ones on commercial jets.
Smokeless Tobacco: First, Do No Harm Reduction?
Chuck Muth’s News and Views.
A Penny Reinvested, A Dollar Burned. By Catfarmer. Perhaps it makes better economic sense to drop a penny into a wishing well or flatten it on the railroad tracks than to reinvest it these days.

From The Mailbag:
CA: An attempt to make California the first state to bar smoking in cars carrying young children was rejected by the Assembly.
The defeat means pending proposals to extend California’s tough anti-smoking campaign to public beaches also will face long odds in the three months left in this year’s session.
CA: San Diego. Beach Smoking Ban Gets Mixed Reactions.
GA: Gwinnett to consider changes to smoking ban.
KS: Petition to challenge smoking ban. Ordinance’s foes hope to force citywide vote.
KY: Businesses Fighting Smoking Ban Join Forces.
LA: An effort to ban smoking in Louisiana restaurants was quickly snuffed out by a House committee.
MI: Marquette County. Proposed Smoking Ordinance Gets Snuffed.
MI: House OKs higher cigarette tax. Measure to increase cigarette levy by 75 cents per pack; passage by Senate is uncertain. Read more.
NH: It is now a crime to host an underage drinking party in New Hampshire.
OH: Jackson snuffs smoking ban law.
OR: Poor shoulder a larger share of tax burden, speaker claims.
OR: Internet retailers selling illegal smokes beware: Oregon is cracking down. Many Internet retailers that sell cigarettes to Oregon consumers do not have a system for verifying the age of the consumer and do not pay the required Oregon cigarette tax.
TX: Smoking ban: No music for minors.
WI: Daly continues work on vehicle smoking ban.
WV: Braxton WV A regulation eliminating smoking in workplaces and public places.
AU: Rocky hotel welcomes smokers. In a bold stand against proposed Queensland Government smoking bans, a pub in the central Queensland city of Rockhampton has erected signs welcoming smokers. “I’m not a Government official, I’m not a cop, I’m just a publican trying to survive.”
Canada: Inuvik, NWT. The Workers’ Compensation Board has issued its first ticket for smoking.
Canada: Illegal smokes on the rise.
Indonesia`s Trade and Industry Minister, Rini M Sumarno Suwandi, has proposed that the government not ratify the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) as a global agreement on public health.
Nigeria: Forces Nigeria.
Norway: prepares for smoking ban.
UK: Smoking is my choice. They want to hand over the tobacco industry to criminals, which is what will happen if you “ban” smoking.
USA: The Next Big-Screen Battle: Smoking. Though the battle over smoking promises to be fierce, Thompson pointed out that the issue is ironic given the history of cinema.
More Smokers Rights News:
Austria … Canada … Ireland … Kentucky … Massachusetts