Thursday 5 May 2011

Breaking News: Australia Has Officially Gone Mad

No, I'm serious.


Yes, you heard that right, a fine of A$8,000!

On the premise that kids might get hold of it, and that small quantities can kill a child, I'm wondering when Australia will find time in their banning schedule to criminalise possession of furniture polish, bleach, and oven cleaning chemicals.

It's staggering to think that this is the same country which is introducing plain packaging to deter people from smoking, isn't it? Yet here they are actively working against what has been - for very many - a successful tobacco harm reduction tool, if not an aid to quitting cigarettes altogether. With such crippling punishments in place, the only outcome will be thousands reverting back to smoking tobacco.

I think Australia's public health department needs to visit a shrink as they're exhibiting symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia.


27 comments:

Smoking Hot said...

Short hair, glasses, ugly, zealot ... mmmm, where have we seen that before? Must be a production line of Arnott clone variations.

Murray Rothbard said...

Do they know that a child can drown from less than a cup of water in their lungs.

BAN WATER NOW !!!!

Angry Exile said...

I suspect some behind the scenes lobbying has gone on from Big Pharma to persuade the QLD government that it's lethal to even look at anything with nicotine in unless it comes in patch or gum form. If they'd thought of this first every other doctor in the country would be fucking prescribing it.

Unknown said...

I love Australia. I just hate the nannying socialist government. All of this is caused by the elimination of personal responsibility.

ShinarsBasketCase said...

So anyone want to wager how long it will be until its banned here? Surely SOMETHING MUST BE DONE TO PROTECT THE UK'S CHILDREN.

If Children in Oz are now protected from this M E N A C E then why not ours?

Questions must asked. I shall write to my MP and the Daily Mail DEMANDING ACTION NOW!!....well I will once I have sorted out selling my daughter's story to the press about how she, A GYM SLIP SINGLE MOTHER, was impregnated by ALIENS with a MUSLIM BABY!

nisakiman said...

It's odd - when I lived there in the 70s the Aussies were really quite sensible and pragmatic. They appear to have gone completely bonkers over the last few decades. As you point out DP, there are a million and one colourful household items that if ingested by a child will be lethal.

WTF?

Barking Spider said...

The lies this lot tell to achieve their objectives are totally ridiculous! They just can't stand the fact that so many people have been able to circumvent their rotten legislation - pure spite and vindictiveness rear their ugly socialist heads yet again!

Anonymous said...

So great is their hatred of nicotine they even considered the possibility of banning food and had to write an exemption.

FINAL ASSESSMENT REPORT

"Many commonly and widely consumed vegetables of the nightshade family (Solanaceae) such as potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants and capsicums naturally contain low levels of nicotine.
Nicotine has also been detected in cauliflower and tea – two non-solanaceous plants.
Recently there have been a number of attempts overseas to deliver nicotine medications
presented as food, such as in bottled water or in lollipops.

A concern expressed by health authorities is that the addition of tobacco or nicotine in food may promote or legitimise the smoking of tobacco or the use of smokeless tobacco products.

VicHealth proposed a modified Option 2 – Allow the use of Nicotiana species in all foods but restrict the level of nicotine to the level demonstrated to be safe and not to be therapeutic or psychoactive." ?

"The option was raised to prevent foods such as the nightshades, known to naturally contain low levels of nicotine, from being banned."
foodstandards.gov.au/_srcfiles/P278_Nicotine_FAR_Final.pdf

Banning ornamental varieties seems minor in comparison.

“Nicotiana sylvestris has now been added to the list of prohibited tobacco plants, which includes Nicotiana tabacum and Nicotiana rusticum".

Rose

stressymumsy said...

Aaaarggh! They're completely f-ing barking mad. I second every comment above.

Rose's excerpt is awesome. Just in case you think that was a wind-up, see page six of this.

proglodyte said...

The solution is obvious - the liquid I use is supplied in bottles with childproof caps (adult proof sometimes...).

RB said...

Been meaning to get an e cig for ages having been a 20+ per day smoker for 25 years who would quite like not to be spending £50 a week on my habit. Finally got one about three days ago. Havent had a ciggie since.

I put the refills I brought in a top cupboard that a small child would have to get a ladder and crampons to reach. Presumably parents can't be trusted to not notice their kid playing at being Chris Bonnington in the kitchen.

Its called common sense. We used to have that. People that didn't have it were thought to be a bit stupid.

Now righteous simpletons have decided that there is no such thing anymore, no such think as personal responsibility and more likely they think we don't have the capacity to display even the most simple sense of responsibility in our daily lives. You can drive to work, negotiating the terrifying dangers of the roads, you can marry someone, buy a house, have kids and god forbid not kill them while you are bringing them up and teaching them to think for themselves in this crazy world. But you can't be trusted to put somthing out of the reach of kids that might harm them, like you do every day with knives, medicines, bleach, etc. etc.

I wouldn't be surprised if we don't one day see an organisation railing against the dangers of dressing yourself.

And so the only solution is to ensure a continuing monopoly in smoking cessation aids for the pharmas. The same people who it is documented have made great efforts over the last 30 years to medicalise every aspect of normal life, give it a name (pre-hypertension, pre-diabetes) and sell stuff to "cure" these made up conditions.

These bansturbators are thick, self-righteous, deceitful and evil.

RB said...

I wouldn't be surprised if we don't one day see an organisation railing against the dangers of dressing yourself.

Take out the "don't" - its getting late and my proof reading skills are on the wane.

Dick Puddlecote said...

AE: "If they'd thought of this first every other doctor in the country would be fucking prescribing it."

Nailed it. It's quite clear who is pushing this anti e-cig stuff, yet some still think it's tobacco companies - perhaps that's all part of the propaganda.

RB: "Its called common sense. We used to have that."

Oh, it's still around. It's just been renamed uncommon sense as it's rarer than fairy dust amongst anyone with a modicum of power (and those who believe them). Sadly.

Anonymous said...

Yet again Arthur C Clark got it right...

From "The Ghost of the Grand Banks"

In weaving together the personalities and plot lines for The Ghost of the Grand Banks, Arthur C. Clarke refers to the plagues of the twentieth century. One plague he poses are the medical effects of smoking tobacco: The twenty-first century society he delineates, despises the addiction. Donald and Edith Craig operate a company that reduces or cuts smoking scenes from twentieth-century films and videos to make them usable in the twenty-first.

Anonymous said...

Australia, the arse of the world farts again!
Vivid ;-]

Anonymous said...

Bearing in mind that the one thing which is likely to pose a real threat to the whole anti-smoking movement is anything which effectively stops or reduces people smoking, this has got to be the best advert yet for the fact that vaping really works as a quitting aid or as a get-you-by measure. And it has the added disadvantage (to them) that they can’t see people suffering from not being able to smoke real tobacco – something which I’ve long felt is the true reason for many anti-smokers actually being anti-smokers in the first place. No wonder they’re trying to ramp up the “for the cheeldren” line.

Sadly, most of the Australians I’ve met have been very nice people, usually very good at sports and always up for a laugh, but not terribly - well - insightful, if you know what I mean. Thinking beyond the surface of any issue doesn’t seem to be their forte – how many famous Australian philosophers can you name? So it’s likely that most of them will fall for this hook, line and sinker.

Anonymous said...

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

Sorry, I am Australian and I just saw that excuse for a woman, Sophie Dwyer. I thought it was John Bercow for a minute.

My country has been arsefucked. I'm more of a refo than a Somalian.

@RB
Five days here.

I guess shit isn't banned - maybe I can just leave stools in her children's park instead.

She'd probably scat the lot, dirty little bitch.

Anonymous said...

I see that the growing of the tobacco plant is banned in Australia. Or is it?

"“Nicotiana sylvestris has now been added to the list of prohibited tobacco plants, which includes Nicotiana tabacum and Nicotiana rusticum"". (Rose)


Now here is a very peculiar thing. I would have thought that Australia has a perfect climate for the growing of the tobacco plant. Since ONE tobacco plant will produce MILLIONS on seeds, I would have thought that large tracks of land could be 'accidentally' seeded. We would thus have the prospect of watching the likes of this woman running around in circles trying to uproot all the tobacco plants.

If only!!!

Anonymous said...

I have often wondered why it is that Australians are so good at sports, bearing in mind the relative smallness of the population.

Clearly, the fact of the matter is that their talents generally speaking are of a physical nature rather than an intellectual one.

I wonder when the Tobacco Companies will see sense? We have mentioned the new Aussie site 'ideservetobeheard.com' which is supposedly supported by Philip Morris. Frankly, it does not seem to be very good. What might actually have a salutary effect would be a press conference held by the combined tobacco companies saying that they have decided to pull out of Australia altogether. No more supplies - end of tobacco duty - end of VAT on sales - only smuggled fags and contraband - massive grow your own initiatives, illegal or not. Even better if the brewing trade and the fast food trade (remember, restaurants are only a different form of 'fast food') also indicated a willingness to 'take on' the healthists and precipitate the final solution rather than wait for it.

I wish that they would. There are lots of leaves about which maybe could be treated and smoked. Every autumn, all the bushes and trees in my garden shed their leaves. It would not be a problem to collect the and try it! Who knows? They might well produce a quite pleasant smoke! Maybe this autumn.........

ibbers said...

think of the children?

the same bollocky arguement that is being used against an R18+ rating for video games.

People, parents in particular, need to be more responsible for this kind of thing.

It should not be the state's responsibility, but the individuals.

Angry Exile said...

Junican, not only do parts of Australia have a good climate for growing tobacco it used be a commercial crop here. Not allowed anymore of course, but as you say seeds spread so I wouldn't be surprised if there are pockets of tobacco plants growing wild in places. The only problem is the sheer size of the place makes it not so much like looking for a needle in a haystack as looking for one in Oxfordshire. Still, someone is either growing plants or knows where they're growing in order to supply the chop-chop, and I'm sure they're hoping the plain packaging laws go through because that'll make the legal stuff look closer to their own much product that's always been sold in plain packaging.

Like the idea of the baccy companies throwing their hands up and giving up on doing business here. You're quite right, that would send more and bigger shockwaves than the website even if it was just a temporary thing. Not just the tax revenue either. I wonder how many people the industry employs here, how many other businesses depend at least partly on it and whose profits, and therefore taxes, will go down as a result. It's not just the shops - someone's got to haul cigarettes from wherever they came into the country to all the inland towns and cities so trucking companies will feel it.

I've always felt that the reason governments haven't already banned tobacco is simply that they're far more addicted to the revenue than any smoker ever was to the nicotine, and that they want to have their cake and eat it. Or rather ban it for our own good and tax it. While it's mildly amusing to watch them wriggling on the horns of that dilemma it's probably past time that they were taught they can't have it both ways. If the industry announced an unofficial three month (minimum) embargo on Australia, giving perhaps just a month's notice, it might be the lesson they need.

Angry Exile said...

IJD, I'm not sure the videogame thing is a good comparison. For one thing while it's ineffectively banned some games (ineffective because people just buy them in from overseas) it also means that some games aimed at older gamers and rated 18 in most countries have ended up with the MA15+ rating here. About half the MA15+ games here are rated 18 in Europe. The law of unintended consequences at work, and of course the reaction of the mainly Christian right who were using the legal requirement for unanimity of all states to veto an RA18+ rating everywhere was to pretend it wasn't happening. It's likely that this will soon change as South Australia no longer has the Attorney General who was blocking the RA18+ classification. His replacement is now demanding it on the grounds of all those games ending up being rated for 15 year olds that only adults can buy elsewhere, and is looking for ways for SA to go it alone if necessary (if he can that kind of undermines the unanimity line we were fed and I'm not sure why the rest of us couldn't have done it ages ago). I think it's likely that Australia will have it's RA18+ category before the year is out.

Anonymous said...

Tobacco confiscated during tax office raid

"TAX officers yesterday raided a Eurobin farm seizing and destroying “ornamental” tobacco plants."

Yesterday the tax office spokeswoman confirmed the definition of banned tobacco had been expanded to include Nicotiana sylvestris, also known as night scented tobacco.

“This means no one is allowed to grow Nicotiana sylvestris unless they have a licence from the tax office,” she said.

“This includes for any commercial purposes."

bordermail.com.au/news/local/news/general/tobacco-confiscated-during-tax-office-raid/1682976.aspx

2009 - The Year of Nicotiana

"The National Garden Bureau has declared 2009 the year of Nicotiana. Nicotiana (ni-co-she-AA-nah) or flowering tobacco is a lovely heirloom flower gaining recognition among today's gardeners."

"In Victorian times, Nicotiana sylvestris was planted along walkways and paths so that those strolling by could enjoy the sweet fragrance of the flowers."
http: //byf.unl.edu/web/byf/Nicotiana


Nicotiana sylvestris

"This imposing half hardy annual has stout spikes bearing a cascading head of fragrant 3½in long white blooms."
thompson-morgan.com/flowers/flower-seeds/half-hardy-annual-seeds/nicotiana-sylvestris/6549TM

So, a mass punishment on gardeners who simply enjoy the flowers.


One day I WILL learn how to hide links.

Rose

Little Black Sambo said...

" ...how many famous Australian philosophers can you name?"
There are lots of them but they are all called Bruce.

Callie said...

Maybe we should start our own campaign against nicotine gum cunningly disguised as pretty little packets of sweeties ... As a mother of 6 I can assure anyone that children are more attracted to those than to little bottles of medicine!

Anonymous said...

I think their greatest fear is that easy access to 'dangerous weapons[ of ass destruction such as nicotine will allow pissed off citizens to lace their fair-trade lattes and end the whole tyrant tantrum forthwith.

Anonymous said...

What a wanker that doctor is. How many of the pharmaceutical medicines which he prescribes on a daily basis could kill a small child?

Yet, he has no problem letting his patients take them home with a "Keep out of the reach of children" label on them.

Soft-brained mental midget. How'd he ever get through medical school?