I sent this reply to Jim, not realizing he'd posted his note to me.
Jim, I didn't say the part about "not about public health; it's about controlling the
lives of others"
I tried to set that up so it was clearly a part of the letter I'd seen in the paper,
but apparently the forum doesn't allow for color and different type sizes. That's
been very frustrating to me as I try to get used to it and figure out who is saying
what in response to what previous post. I debated about including the rest of the
letter but since a real person had found the C.S.Lewis quote and sent it to the Strib,
I thought I should include the whole letter.
It's heartbreaking to me that this is such a bitter argument. I was trying to make
the point that smokers don't want to spew our garbage on to you. We've thought we were
obeying reasonable laws. Now people are saying the laws don't go far enough. Perhaps
you're right. But somehow this has turned into a juggernaut that makes enemies of
people who ought to be friends. I can't get anyone to answer my point about the
dependence of governments on tobacco - right down to the city level. And I can't find
a statute that says what other pollutants are regulated in bars and restaurants -
radon especially. I've looked at so many web sites I'm bleary-eyed. It seems that a
couple of other major indoor pollutants are unvented gas appliances and cockroaches.
I don't know about you, but my husband and I rarely turn on our stove vent, partly
because I eat no meat but also because we think of it as something for venting smells,
not poison gases. And the idea of cockroaches is hard to contemplate - roach poop?
little skeletons?
So I'm sorry to have enraged you at 2:13 in the morning.
Gail
I also sent a post last night suggesting that maybe we need a clearly
separate thread - or list? - in which to argue research and statistics. That seems to
have been lost utterly - cyber void strikes again. But I'm wondering if this is
distracting too much from other important subjects. The Spike Moss question, for
example, is valid and a test of the forum's helpfulness in clarifying tough
differences. I haven't responded to it because I no longer live in Mpls.
From: Jim Bernstein
To: 'Gail' ; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, June 04, 2004 2:13 AM
Subject: RE: Tobacco Scam
A smoking ban is NOT about making outcasts of smokers or denying their
humanity! It is not about the legality of cigarettes. And the
self-serving comment that the proposed ban being "not about public
health; it's about controlling the lives of others" is nonsense.
Smoking in public places is a public health issue because the smoke
poses a significant to others! Despite furious attempts by the Tobacco
Institute and allies to discredit an impressive array of data
demonstrating the linkage, the public seems to have rightfully concluded
that second hand smoke is neither healthy nor tolerable.
We do not allow people do discard their garbage wherever one wishes.
Every household produces some waste/garbage in food preparation and we
have strict rules about how it is to be disposed of. Down the disposal
perhaps, into a compost heap maybe, or into the trash bag and then into
the container - but never do we tolerate using the neighbors yard - or
your own for that matter - as the dumping ground.
Tobacco smoke exhaled into the air is in fact the garbage produced by
smoking and we ought to treat it as such.
If Minneapolis enacts the proposed ban smokers will still be able smoke
- but bars and restaurants would be off limits just as airplanes,
theaters, classrooms and a host of other public accommodations are. Not
because anyone is trying to control their behavior but because most
folks don't want someone else's garbage in their face.
Jim Bernstein
Fulton
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