Tobacco Documents Online

l COMMENTA1KY Tuesday, March 17, 1998 Ban anti-tobacco activists NEW mse~'ch by ~e Workl Health Ox~mlza,lion (WHO) has f~ed to find ~ny ~- ~ke ~d I~ ~. ~ewa ~ ~e ~~~a~Eu- ~, wh~ a b~f s~ of ~e~ lot ~h on ~ h~i~e ev~ ~d~en. s~ con- ~ul ~ I~C ~ien~ fo~d the ~tlve ~k el I~ ~r f~ s~s or ~worke~ of smoke~ ~tely deno~c~ ~e ~po~ by mo~ a tirade ~t Uie ~m~. ~ ~ 'fl~e Ot~wa ~t#~-n ~n- ~c~ a couple ~ C~di~ ~tl-~ ~a~ em~dem who ~h~ ~ d~- ~t ~e ~e~ Neff Co~w, a ~ now ~ ~ anti.rebate ~ no[~ dane ~ my 3'hen he add~ "BUt ~ my o~- flea.., co~on~ [I, iris 1 ~ven'l h~ el it" S~e ~d~ pmj~ ~d oac oI the l~t smoke ever Terence Corcoran While Mr. Colllshaw allempted lo deny its existence, the NonSmokcm Rights Association In Ottawa-- sentlally an arm.of [he federal govern. meat, given its funding- - trashed the WIIO ~tudy as Iohaoce Md~t~ prop- agnncL~ David Swooner, (he NSRA's legal beagle in Ottawa. said the re- search *'is simply nol sound science. The only place we have ~een rids kind of garbage is from lhe lobac~o indus. try." When it com~s to ridin~ the coat. t~ils el )un~ science, of oomsc, the antitobacco industry knows few lw~m. The second.haml smoke sc~ Ls the engine that's driving the g|obal push Io ban smoking in ~ public place. Including restaurants, bars and clubs. Ry turning secondhand smoke Into a public he;dtl, the activists have been lever~q~tg smelting bans all over tbe world, eluding Los Angei~ and Vancouver. Toron*.o, after a "failed attempl year, is looki~Lg at r.be Id~ Anything lhat undemdnes the !w'dth ey~e.-e, therefore, i~ :a obvioas tlu~! to the ant1 smoking movemenL Smoking hans already run into tmu- Me whemve~ they're ~e& Los gele~ is set to revePae its ban, Vancou, vet's is looking doubtful apd Toron- to's may never get eli the ground. If there is ao Identifiable heaRh effec[ from second-hand sm~e, it will be- oome mum di~cdt ~o convince the public and enJt~ poUUcians.ln a cam- palgn 1o turn smoking into an iadicb able offense. The full IARC report on hand smoke will not be available aore the conclusions. The relative risk of lung cancer (~r a spouse. posed to second&and smoke was i.16, with a 95-per-ce=tt confidence interval ranging from 4).~ to 1A4. The deuce inter~-M is such thai tO secondhand smoke may even lower lung c~mcer risk. Exl~sm¢ secondhand smoke at work produoc~l a relative risk of i.17, with a confi- dence inler~al of 4).94 ~o 1 A5 ha either case, the risk ratios are not statisti- cally slgnlflcant. Therefore, no evi- dence. One o{ the British lobacco europa nlcs offered a comp,ari:~n. A recent survey of lung cancer risks found search [hat [alcott/led statistically sift niflcan[ relative risks of 3.18 for high consumption el rice pudding, 2.72 for whole mil~, an:l 124 for fried meat. Health activists and lifestyle fa_~.isls have not yet p~postd a ban on pudding and ste;lk, tu part be~au:~e padding anJ stea]~ are not -- yc[ - c~r.~i~eO "a~di~i;e." Ou the other hand, sex and certain forms of behavieur am now being iabeBcd "ad- dictive." Before the .sex police arrive at the door, maybe it's time to hart health activists. Ultimately, the future af smoking bans should not detmnd on scientiiic research. From an individual rights per~lx~tive, the right to smoke must override [he health .~lrc~, rcal or imagined. As columnist Andrew Coyne once put it. the smeU of try bacco smoke in a bar is "the smell of fa~eedo m.'' For many, however, fftx~dom take~ a back seat to the fact t~l smoking also the s~nelt of money. For govern- ntenls collcc~Ilg new ~lxe~. for atq~lv- ists mounting campaig~L% for agea- cie~ reocivlng state funding, for (he U.S. lawycrs collecting biliiom in con lingency fee~. tobacco has turned into a river ofgo|d paid for by taxes on smokers. Cama~a's inaccurately named Non Smokcm Righ(~ Association has no significant popular sup~rt or members|tip amoag noo~smokers and receives all its money h'om govern- ment~ that tax smokers. During 19ffL the NSRA and its sister org-~atzatirm tl~:e.Jved ~Z2,568 in t~a~ts, but they look in only in membership fete. With ttmt lag balance, the NSRA ii at root mereS' an extension of the lleaRh Canada bureaucrzcy n~L~uerading as ;m indei.~ndent intereal group. l tow hmg can (hi~ pill;q,qng of smokel~ go : 60t #6£890g , I