Mon Sep 8, 2008 6:04 pm (PDT)
Sep 08, 2008 18:09 ETMichigan Tobacconists Say Where There's Smoke
There's Legislation
LANSING, MI--(Marketwire - September 8, 2008) - According to Chris
McCalla, legislative director of the International Premium Cigar &
Pipe Retailers Association, his organization has learned that the
Michigan state legislature will likely reopen debate on a proposed
statewide smoking ban based on allegedly erroneous information
provided by well-funded anti-smoking forces.
Michigan's State Representatives and Senators have been deadlocked on
a proposal for several months with each preferring their own version
of such a ban. McCalla believes the two chambers are working to
approve a statewide smoking ban by the end of this current session.
"IPCPR members are owners and employees of neighborhood smoke shops
across Michigan, throughout the United States and the world where
premium, handmade cigars are sold to adult consumers," said
McCalla. "Their customers are friends and neighbors who enjoy the
pleasures of a good cigar... and they are voters," he added.
McCalla noted that most cigar stores are family-owned small
businesses led by mom-and-pop operators who are pillars of the
communities they serve, providing thousands of jobs and paying
millions of dollars annually in payroll, sales and excise taxes.
According to McCalla, Michigan legislators and the general public are
being deceived by the well-funded anti-smoking organizations into
believing what they hear about second-hand smoke.
"They need to read the 2006 Surgeon General's Report which clearly
concludes that second-hand smoke should not be considered a
legitimate health or environmental hazard. Biased media reports,
slanted statements by anti-tobacco groups and even deliberately
erroneous press releases from the Surgeon General's office contradict
the actual findings of the Report," he said.
McCalla referred to a report written by Dr. Jerome Arnett, Jr., a
pulmonologist who lives in Helvetia, West Virginia.
"The abuse of scientific integrity and the generation of faulty
outcomes have led to deception of the American public on a grand
scale, draconian government over-regulation and the squandering of
public monies while personal choice and freedom have been denied to
millions of smokers," Arnett wrote.
A recent study published by an environmental chemistry professor
supports McCalla's and Arnett's position.
Barry Dellinger is a professor of environmental chemistry at
Louisiana State University. His research on the environmental effects
of combustion was presented last month at the 236th National Meeting
of the American Chemical Society in Philadelphia. Dellinger found
that nonsmokers are impacted primarily by elements in the air formed
during the combustion process of things like coal in power plants and
burning trees, not tobacco. "Wood smoke is the worst," Dellinger is
quoted as having said, discussing heart and lung health risks.
McCalla challenged the Michigan legislature to demand clarification
and validation for health claims made by the anti-smoking
organizations in support of any statewide smoking ban.
"Information promoting legislation of this magnitude, with its
widespread social and economic impact as well as its deprivation of
constitutional rights of business owners and consumers alike, needs
to be documented for public review and shared in an understandable
format," he said. |
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Darkseid
Smoking Lobby Sponsor
Joined: Jun 13, 2006
Posts: 1513
Location: Peoples Republik of oHEILo
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