Sunday 6 September 2009

Tomorrow's News Today


Expect to see similar headlines around the world over the next few weeks.

And if you add new blog, Velvet Glove Iron Fist, to your reader or favourites, you will most probably be well ahead of the MSM in reading about upcoming health nazi truth-bending before lazy journos can cut and paste the tripe they are fed.

Blog author, Chris Snowdon, is a past master at debunking the lies pumped out by state and pharma-funded bansturbators. He does so in a calm manner and always backs up his writing with incontrovertible science and truthful statistics. If only such honesty existed in the ranks of ASH, Alcohol Concern etc.

For example, following an unpublished study involving just 22 people, how about this for bare-faced mendacity on the issue of second hand smoke levels in cars?

Secondhand smoke in cars worse than in bars

The study gives an average nicotine level in a car of 9.6µg/m3 (micrograms per cubic metre). There are numerous studies that have measured nicotine levels in bars, so we can see whether the car figure really is 'worse than bars'.

Mulcahy (2005) found a level of 35.5µg/m3 in Irish bars.

Nebot (2005) found levels between 19µg/m3 and 122µg/m3 in bars/discos.

Lopez (2008) measured levels of 32.99µg/m3 in discos/pubs.

All of these readings are far higher than the 9.6µg/m3 reported for cars in this new study. So what's going on? A clue is given in the Mulcahy study which reported a 35.5µg/m3 level before the Irish smoking ban, which fell to 5.95µg/m3 afterwards.

And then the penny drops. The researchers are comparing the 'smoky' cars with smoke-free bars! It is quite unsurprising, then, that that nicotine levels in premises where smoking is completely banned by law are lower than in a car where someone is smoking. Do we really need to pay scientists to tell us such things?

As Chris's article points out, this particular lie is lined up for publication and general press release next month, just as parliament reconvenes (how very convenient). It will be faithfully regurgitated by the BBC and the dead tree press, thereby passing into the public's consciousness as hard fact ... despite being nothing of the sort.

Once that is achieved, swaying our thick as shit MPs into backing unnecessary authoritarian legislation is a doddle. It's how illiberal laws are manufactured. The process has worked many times before, and will no doubt do so again until our elected numpties learn to research instead of just taking our cash and preening their fuckwitted selves.

See also: Those oh-so-Liberal Democrats pushing for yet another ban, this time on cigarette branding.




7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Smoke-free pubs nearly as bad as cars now? There's only one solution - ban smoke-free pubs! Granted that will leave us with no pubs at all, but the risk is just too great. ;-)

Witterings from Witney said...

Now on my blogroll DP!

Pavlov's Cat said...

nice one Mr Dick , have you seen how much thay are losing these days in tax in the 'War on Smoking' a couple of hospitals a year by my reckoning (cue unabashed linking) See A Need, Fill A Need

Unknown said...

As you well know Dick, ASH and any other anti this or that toilet lickers, have had the ear of politicians and the media for far too long. What irks me is why the media have been so complicit in this degenerate crusade against smoking and smokers.

In particular the media should know better…over the last several years they have become bereft of any ability to question something that affects the lives of millions of decent and honourable people.

This is not simply a moral issue – but one of integrity as well. Do not the media have the duty and responsibility to look at both sides of the coin?

Lazy and incompetent journalism to this extent is indefensible in any so called democracy.

Junican said...

Can we credit our MPs with having some sense? Surely, to become an MP, you must have some intelligence?

I have just done a little experiment. I took an ordinary wine glass and weighed it on my daughter's accurate scales. It weighed 169 grams. I then put a little water into the glass and weighed it again - 179 grams. I emptied most of the water out and weighed it again - 174 grams. I emptied more water out - still 171 grams. I could barely empty any more out, but I tried 170 grams! 1 gram of water in the glass. One could barely see the water in the glass.

Now, take 9.6 MILLIONTHS of this drop of water (in other words a drop of water so small that it would hardly be visible under the most powerful microscope in existence), warm it up so that it becomes water vapour and then spread it around and mix it up with A CUBIC METER of air. How dangerous can that mixture possibly be?

Is there ONE MP who could explain to me how this miniscule bit of tobacco smoke could POSSIBLY do me any harm?

Further, if it is true that researchers found about 40 micrograms (millionths) of tobacco smoke per cubic meter in bars and discos, how on earth did MPs translate this quantity into a health hazard?

I say MPs rather than doctors because I credit MPs with having no ulterior motives.

Am I right to credit MPs with no ulterior motives?

If they have ulterior motives, what can these motives possibly be?

Anonymous said...

Well if it was a powerful cholinesterase inhibitor (like sarin) it would be quite nasty actually.

Junican said...

Davidnci

Maybe,but we are talking about tobacco smoke.