27/03/09 Smoker Apartheid Has Arrived

Yes, you read the sign correctly. Smokers are not welcome. Seemingly gone are the days when smoking was forbidden, now the Tobacco Control movement is having its dream of smoker free areas realised.

The last time in history that I am aware of having such signs discriminating against specific groups of society was when white and black people were segregated. Water fountains for white people, cafes for white people and so forth. Apparently we have regressed numerous decades to see such behaviour as perfectly validated. Apparently history is there to be forgotten rather than learnt from.

Imagine that sign but with ‘smokers’ omitted for ‘jews’, ‘blacks’, ‘women’, ‘fat people’, ‘redheads’ etc. These would not be tolerated, and justifiably so. So why do we feel it acceptable to ban smokers?

This is all hinged on the third-hand smoke fraud. ASH stated in a press release [1]:

“SmokERS — not just smoking — have been barred in a public area at a major hospital, a restriction likely to spread to other areas of the hospital as well as to other hospitals, says Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), a national organization leading the fight to protect nonsmokers from thirdhand tobacco smoke. Public interest law professor John Banzhaf of ASH notes that many steps are being taken to protect nonsmokers from thirdhand tobacco smoke: … ASH recently forced a major university to stop an employee, who took smoke breaks outside his smoke free office, from working in the same office with a women whose health — and the health of her unborn child — were threatened by his thirdhand smoke, according to testimony from two of her doctors. Even in a state with a law which allegedly prohibits discrimination against smokers, a major company prohibits anyone from coming on the premises if they have any detectable odor of tobacco smoke on them. To avoid being barred, smokers likely have to change clothing, shower and shampoo, and use mouthwash”

Of course, the one critical component missing from the above press release is evidence.  ASH have never been fond of it, preferring instead to pretend it does not exist in attempts to further their cause. Also note the final sentence: “smokers likely…” what this means, of course, is that there is no proof to suggest some activities are warranted and ASH have simply pulled such information from their hat.

Do not tolerate such abuse. We do not have to stand for this, nor should we. Remember: smoking is legal, smokers are legal, and there is no legal action that can be taken from a smoker entering any building. Write to your MPs, the government, and the hospital management now, before it is too late and all hospitals, universities, schools and other buildings are embracing this notion that goes against human rights.

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