Blade is beating the anti-smoke drum again

“Do not listen to those who weep and complain, for their disease is contagious.” – Og Mandino (1923-1996), author of The Greatest Salesman in the World

That would mean that second hand smoke in businesses open to the public was responsible for 26% of heart attacks. Even Hank would agree that such a statement is ludicrous.

Hear. Hear. They might as well claim it cured baldness too.

IMHO, there will be a lot more of this kind of "news" coverage in the future. Stories about health fads and/or medical problems are cheap. Most of the info is provided by press releases from organizations that stand to make money if they can convince the public to buy into their new worrisome disease and/or cure.

I believe this coverage in the Blade was preceded by the announcement that the Health Dept. has some news to share about the effects of the smoking ban. So it's no surprise that they have concluded that their controversial idea worked to improve public health.

Not to be paranoid, but a friend in another city has been catching "news" stories lately about comparisons between home-packed lunches and packaged lunch kits like Lunchables. Both in print and on TV, the claims are that home lunches are high in fat and full of germs. She expects to find out pretty soon that one of the food companies has created this stream of "reporting." If it's free, and it looks like news, and it's reasonably well-written, the media will pick it up and run the story. It's cheaper than paying actual journalists to look into the same issues.

End of rant. Sorry, I wept and moaned!

...the claims are that home lunches are high in fat and full of germs.

Just like Grandpa, but we still love him too, just like we love our homemade lunches.

BTW, have you ever turned over a "Lunchables"??? Anyone with a functioning cerebellum would see (a) the fat content on those tiny packages of "meat" and "cheese" (both terms used loosely) is pretty damn high--usually ranging around 40-50% of an adult's recommended daily intake, and (b) the sodium/salt content is also sky high. What a joke.

After 2 decades in the media field, your assumptions are probably correct. Press releases are easy to repurpose, the heavy lifting is done for you, and they're usually provoking--media catnip. I'd love to see a link to these "news" stories when you have a chance to forward them on.

As for the Blade, perhaps the staff should chant "correlation does not mean causation" for a few hours...it might sink in.

The heart attack story was carried in all the major newspapers in Ohio.

Its not as though the folks at the Blade were sitting around thinking "hmmn...what can we write about this week to piss off smokers?"

Sheesh.

Hey mom2, Not all papers. I searched the Plain Dealer and found no reference to this heart attack reduction. To be fair though, the Dispatch did mention it.

While Blade folks might not be sitting around planning on pissing off smokers, they are certainly selecting and designing articles & stories in their newspaper to inaccurately portray the success of the smoking ban they supported so vigorously. Slanted yellow journalism does piss me off. For the record, I don't smoke anymore, unless I've had too much to drink or am on gambling bender in Vegas.

Hank - I knew we'd agree on something, somewhere. Cheers.

I hate smoking, I think it's an incredibly stupid habit. I hate that so many smokers don't seem to think of cigarette butts as litter.

....but come on! Trying to claim that the ban was directly responsible for such a quick reduction in heart attacks is ridiculous at best.
Where did they dream this garbage up?

Hey Jim.Now that the Distillery has no smoking inside ,I have been stopping there at least once a week.Before the smoking restrictions I was lucky if I went there once a year.I could not stand the heavy smoke.I did what smokers would say.If I didn't like the smoke then just don't go there.Now I frequent the bar and will also eat there more often then before.I know you don't run the Distillery anymore,but I just wanted to let you know some of us non-smokers are spending our hard earned money there.Smokers can still light up on the patio if they want to smoke.This I am sure does not make you feel all warm and fuzzy,but I can now enjoy being at the bar and not have my eyes burning or my sinuses plug up.Not to mention my clothes and hair stinking.I know we have hashed this over and over in the past,but I think people have gotten used to the new rules.Whether one likes the law is still up for debate,but I for one enjoy going out more often.

jimavolt - I didn't realize the Plain Dealer didn't give the story a mention, but I saw it in both the Dayton and Cincy papers. It was my mistake to assume that it was also in the Plain Dealer without seeing it.

Wow... the person who wrote that article is quite the scholar!

First, the title states there is a "LINK" then the article states "can't definitively tie" the reduction to the ban.

Again, OH WHAT A SCHOLAR!

Hey Buckeye. It does make me feel good that people enjoy going to the D. I still socialize there quite a bit and have definitely noticed the clothes smelling better. (I believe the food in the place has gotten better because the new owner is more hands-on in the kitchen.)

We were lucky that we had the room and the funds necessary to build that patio.

Oldhometown, the friend with the lunches heard the report on a Chicago TV news hour, then saw it a few days later in the Tribune. It could be a case of the paper repackaging a broadcast story without further research. ( ... so I guess I won't be getting links for you, sorry). She did mention that the home-packed lunch consisted of a PBJ sandwich, which of course would be fairly high in fat. She was honked off, too, because the Lunchables stuff is basically crackers and extruded "cheez" and bomb-shelter-worthy bologna, and the home lunch was made fresh, on whole wheat bread.

Well, if you get tired of the smoking coverage, there's always this...

Seeking reporter to work for community change
Location: Toledo, Ohio
Midsized daily is seeking a tenacious reporter interested in animal rights

http://www.journalismjobs.com/Job_Listing.cfm?JobID=1280903

The Blade has an editorial about the report in today's paper: http://www.toledoblade.com/Editorials/2011/09/09/Enforce-smoking-ban.html

Nowhere do they mention that there might be the teeniest bit of doubt about the study, either the heart attack aspect or the economic one. And they call people who think like them "fair-minded Ohioans" as if everybody else is from the evil empire. It's all one-sided for them. What a bunch of dyed-in-the-wool, fuzzy-thinking radicals!

Hyjack but related (govt. interference).

With a new District Court ruling upholding Ohio's strip club and book store restrictions, the after midnight boobie ban is slated to be enforced as well. I don't remember what the Blade's stance was on the no-touchy after midnight act was.

http://www.wlwt.com/r/29116745/detail.html

TAHL

This city and this state are passing up a real opportunity to become the new sin city by allowing it all. Revenue would come pouring in and this city's fiscal problems would be solved. But, Nooooo! Too libertarian for those guys who want to control everyone's behavior. Roll up the sidewalks after dark!

The Blade was right on schedule with the editorial Pete wrote of. Why don't they do some investigative reporting on the flawed studies that they reference over and over again?

BTW, the Blade should re-consider the success of it's anti-smoking position. More Ohioans are smoking now than 2 years ago. Hell, I might start smoking again just because the Blade doesn't want me to.

All that shows is there are alot of incredibly ignorant people in Ohio. Who STARTS smoking in this day and age? I can see if you are 50 and been smoking forever, but I will never understand when I see some 2 year old smoking. And at 5 bucks a pack? Must have lots of disposable income.

that should have been 20 year old, lol.

I don't like the expensive house or the SUV you drive either, Ryan. I think you've got too much disposable income. Oh, wait! How you spend your money is none of my business, is it?

no its not, but you are free to believe that smoking my house would be dangerous indeed.

Who STARTS smoking in this day and age?

Indonesian 2 year olds-- that's who!

I should be a smoker--both my parents were, but I hated the smell from an early age, had allergies, and when I got to grade school health class and saw what it did to your body, that convinced me. No amount of "it's cool" peer pressure or advertising ever made me want to start. Plus, as you noted, it's just ridiculously expensive.

Then again, if a kid starts smoking, I'm pretty well convinced that smokes are healthier for 'em than all that Ritalin shit they give kids now to calm 'em down.

Nobody has ever blamed cigarettes when some mid-30's guy goes nuts and kills a bunch of people, whereas all these mind-fuck drugs they give kids (because Mommy needs a break) seem to lead a bunch of them to develop late-onset adult serial killer syndrome or worse.

Paging Starling and Darkseid...

As I live and breathe - McCaskey! Where have you been hiding?

...you are free to believe that smoking my house would be dangerous indeed.

Yeah, and you are also free to believe that Congress will vote itself a pay cut, restore the individual civil rights guaranteed to us in the Constitution and present a balanced budget that begins paying off the national debt. You (and everyone else) can also believe that King George II started a huge war in the Middle East to preserve our safety here in the U.S. and that The Anointed One continued the war in the name of Peace and Nobel.

What a clown.

Cigarettes are up to $5 a pack, and they used to be 50 cents. The price is prohibitive (for me anyway) but not so for other people. Hey, it's their bread, and if that's how they want to spend it that's fine by me. While I believe the Blade's anti-smoking campaign is foolish, I'm not surprised. The Blade is owned by a control freak with enough hubris to actually believe that if his will were enforced on We the People all our worldly troubles would be solved. What an ass.

I suppose that if the government were serious about deterring tobacco use, Congress would add tobacco to the controlled substance list and everyone would stop using it. Because it would be against the law.

Stop around now and again, Jack. Busy, busy...

"More Ohioans are smoking now than 2 years ago"

Jim, think I'm gonna need a link or two to begin believing that.

The latest from The Blade: "The Toledo-Lucas County Health Department is working with the state attorney general's office to prohibit businesses with huge smoking-ban fines -- such as Rip Cord, Mayfly Tavern, and Delaney's Lounge, all of Toledo -- from renewing liquor licenses in June. That is when liquor license renewals are up for establishments in Lucas, Wood, Ottawa, and several other northwest Ohio counties."
http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2011/09/12/Tiffin-bar-s-license-in-state-s-sights.html

Better yet, here it is direct from the master's mouth, i.e., David Grossman, "I think the liquor license is more than appropriate to have a threat to these people, because if they don't feel any threat from non-compliance, they won't comply," said Lucas County Health Commissioner Dr. David Grossman. "It appears obvious that unless they feel the pain from not getting it [liquor license], these bars are not willing to obey the law," Grossman said.

The bars' owners say the ban violate their rights.

"Business is being lost, and no one understands that," said Bill Delaney, Regional Director for the Buckeye Liquor Permit Holders Association. "No one has ever checked with a lot of bar owners, they think everything is fine." http://www.wtol.com/story/15446107/bars-liquor-licenses-at-risk-for-repeat-smoking-law-violations

Hey McCaskey,

I looked for an hour on the CDC and never could corroborate the information. I found it in a few newspapers, most notably the Dispatch. The Blade mentioned it, but their reporting on this matter is suspect.

http://www.mariettatimes.com/page/content.detail/id/536695/MORE-SMOKERS.html?nav=5002

Ugh, the Blade . . . http://www.toledoblade.com/Editorials/2011/09/11/Smoke-signals-2.html

Dispatch:
Ohio's smoking rate jumped to 22.5 percent for adults last year, up 2.2 percentage points from 2009, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It was the biggest increase since 1996.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2011/06/29/smoking-ban-funded-but-not-quit-line.html

And of course while The Blade is chasing the publisher's agenda, they miss real news and have a wire service scoop them in their own backyard...and we wonder why the local media leaves us uninformed?

http://www.toledoblade.com/news/2011/09/14/Toledo-area-woman-questioned-on-flight.html

And BTW numerous media tweeted a link to the subject's own blog account which was published on 9/12...nice heads up Blade news persons..

A smoking ban on all Sylvania Township property is in effect.

Smoking has been banned in township buildings for many years, but the new ban will prohibit smoking anywhere on the property.

The township also decided it will not offer employment to tobacco users. Current employees who are already smokers will be offered several medical options for smoking cessation.

http://www.ourtownsylvania.com/Our-Town-Home-Sylvania/2012/11/12/Sylvania-Twp-extends-smoking-ban.html

I wonder how long the current employees who smoke will be given to kick it.

I wonder if they'll still employ people who drink beer or eat greasy cheeseburgers and candy bars during their off-hours?

32oz soft drinks

Or who watch naughty movies.

You guys missed your big chance to kill the no smoking amendment to the state constitution by voting down Issue 1, you know.

Smoking is less harmful than tyranny and the loss of private property rights. I suppose somewhere down the line bacon will be prohibited from menus at your favorite diner or restaurant.

I would like to see bars and eateries become honorary consulates of countries, which do not impose prohibitions. With such designation like a foreign embassy American regulations would not apply.

A small country like Belize could make a fortune licensing consulates.

A lot of items are prohibited from menus at your favorite diner or restaurant. Certain foods are simply not able to be served.

Lots of harmful things are illegal. There has always been inequality when it comes to which harmful things are illegal. I wish those who were passionate about smoking freedom would take up a worthwhile cause.

"Lots of harmful things are illegal."

But tobacco is a legal product for those of a minimum age. You can buy it. The mob rule vote said a private business owner could not choose whether to permit the usage of this legal product because too many of the mob lacked the ability to choose not to enter a business that permitted this legal product.

Peanuts kill people, they should be banned from every public place.

Lots of harmful things are legal, as well. The "mob rule" (or you know, will of the people) decided they didn't want to be affected by your choice to use a legal harmful product.

Take responsibility for yourself. Don't blame others for wanting to enter a business. Blame yourself for lacking the self-control to wait until you're alone.

I don't smoke. I dislike being around smokers. My vote against smoking bans had nothing to do with supporting smokers. It had to do with supporting the choices of private business owners, regarding a legal product because I'm pro-choice.

researcher said:

Me, a non-smoker, take responsibility? I did. Before the bans, I chose to avoid smoking establishments, or I chose to put up with it. I had other interests besides hanging out in bars. So I was clearly responsible for my actions. I did not need anyone else to direct me.

researcher, you have no idea how silly you sound with your comments. Take responsibility? Why didn't YOU take responsibility and go to a non-smoking establishment? Why don't you exercise self-control and quit forcing your will onto others? Why don't you do something worthwhile and work to outlaw tobacco if it's so harmful?

I hate to bring this out, but this is for researcher to chew on. This post cannot be refuted.
Smoking ban supporters are feeble.

I sound just as silly as you do with your commonly referenced "take responsibility" stance. That was the point. It's a two way street.

Your post can definitely be refuted as it's a bunch of contradictory, misguided nonsense.

Private business owners (I am one...and an ex-smoker) have never had a complete lack of regulations/limitations.

"Why don't you do something worthwhile and work to outlaw tobacco if it's so harmful?"

We did. Where it counts. And you're still crying about it.

"Your post can definitely be refuted as it's a bunch of contradictory, misguided nonsense."

Oh, boy. You win. I've got nothing to counter your proof-filled, intellectual statement. You did an amazing job answering my questions with so few words. And thanks for proving my point.

Like an idiot, researcher brags about the assault on our rights: "We did. Where it counts. And you're still crying about it."

Wrong researcher. You and your ilk don't have the guts to suggest making the cash crop illegal. Rather, you developed a scare tactic, convincing members of the idiot citizenry that they were victims of smokers and facilities that allowed smoking. Congrats on duping the public into voting their preferences and not caring about anything else.

Are you that idiot asshole Stanton Glantz or just another researcher that has yet to experience the real world?

So I have to ask: is secondhand smoke harmful or not?

It is not. There are many chemicals in it, but all are significantly below the OSHA PELs. Like poison and toxicity, the harmfulness of chemical exposure is in the dose. No health problems caused by dosages of chemicals present in environmental tobacco smoke.

Many consider it to be an annoyance and dislike the way it stays in clothes and hair. 78% of the Ohioans do not smoke and voted their preference of not being around smoke; hence it is now illegal to smoke anywhere Ohioans work, public or private.

Cumulative effects, jim? I mean, there is a lifetime cap on radiation exposure for those who work in such fields.

Who cares? We suffer financial side-effects. The smokers increase the health care costs for all us, even those of us who are rarely, if ever, exposed to such smoke.

Just like the slugnutties who exercise no self-control and gorge themselves all day, every day on junk food. Obesity increases the health care costs for all of us, including those who eat healthy and exercise.

So to be consistent, goobermint should ban, outlaw, and sin tax the hell out of junk food. It's for the greater good.

I'm sure that Michelle O would agree with me that the permanent closing of Hostess and the elimination of their poisonous products are good for our health, economy, and environment.

Aw come on jr, I'm not a HUGE fan of the smoking bans, but it is damn sure nice to go to a bar and not gag on smoke and smell like an ashpit when I come home. The fines, however, are truly idiotic.

Hi AC. Cumulative effects on health are most typically related to your example of exposure to radiation. There are though studies that tie exposure to ETS to COPD. This one shows an increase of 7% caused by workplace ETS exposure.

http://www.ehjournal.net/content/4/1/7

The following link shows the disease affecting 6.8% of the population, with < half of those with it ever being diagnosed, so I assume that it's so mild as to not warrant investigation by the patient.

http://www.thoracic.org/education/breathing-in-america/resources/chapter-5-chronic-obstructive-pulmonary-disease.pdf

Now that workplace ETS is a thing of the past, can we expect to see the 6.8 rate plummet by 7% to 6.324? Big deal.

I'm a full believer that figures lie and liars figure and you and I could find study after study to support either position. In the final analysis, The government has no business telling me I cannot rent space and provide a smoking environment to patrons who choose to be exposed. Further, if there was a demand for non-smoking food and beverage venues, then the market would have tended to that demand.

That a person who doesn't like smoke should be empowered to legislate that I cannot have it in my tavern because they might someday favor me with their business is absurd.

Enjoy the weekend.

I dont drink, alcohol kills, impairs judgement and has been in the hands of minors, lets ban it.

Smokers decrease Social Security costs. They collect less because they don't live as long.

http://www.nber.org/papers/w2234

You gotta wonder how long these women might have lived if they hadn't worked around second hand smoke all their life.

Published in Toledo Blade on August 2, 2011

Donna Ruth LEHMAN
Obituary
LEHMAN Donna Ruth Donna Ruth Lehman 92, of Oregon, Ohio, passed away Sunday, July 31, 2011 at Bay Park Hospital. Donna was born January 19, 1919, in Fort Wayne, Indiana to John and May (McDonald) Collins. Donna enjoyed playing bingo, poker, taking trips to Las Vegas and she loved Ohio State football. Donna was a barmaid at the Sportsman's bar where she retired after 50 years at the age of 85. She was affectionately known as "Mamma Donna". Her fondest memories were of the annual St. Patrick's day parties and the patrons who she considered her family. She is preceded in death by her husband, Earl; parents; sisters, Dorothy Opeil and Annabelle O'Connell and special friend, Bill Healy. Surviving are her many nieces and nephews, especially Linda, Anne and great niece, Kylie. Visitation will be held Wednesday, August 3, 2011 from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Hoeflinger-Bolander Funeral Home, 3500 Navarre Ave. Oregon, Ohio, where a funeral service will take place at 10 a.m. on Thursday, August 4, 2011. Memorial donations may be made to the Toledo Humane Society. Special thanks to the caring staff of Bay Park Hospital. www.hoeflingerfuneralhome.com

Published in Toledo Blade from October 14 to October 15, 2008

Olga Agnes Jackson
Obituary
JACKSON Olga Agnes Olga Agnes Jackson, 92, of Toledo, OH, passed away on October 11, 2008, at Hospice of Northwest Ohio in Perrysburg. She was born on October 19, 1915, to Julius and Anna (Vinowsky) Stephan in Blissfield, Michigan. Olga was employed as a barmaid for many years at the VFW Post 2510 and also was a caregiver for children for local families. She was a life member of VFW Post 4906 where she was a past Chaplain. She was also a member of Dunberger American Legion Post and a member of the Cootie Club. Survivors include her sister, Mary Wiesenauer of Sandusky, OH, nieces and nephews and special friends, Christine and Jim Power and Katie (Danny) Schoonover and Jimmy Power. Preceding her in death were her husband, Maynard; parents; brothers, Julius, Ernest, John and Eugene Stephan; sisters, Jessie Bartko, Elsie Gaydos, Helen Stephan and Emma Thomas. Visitation will be from 3 - 8 p.m. on Wednesday at Hoeflinger-Bolander Funeral Home, 3500 Navarre Ave., Oregon, OH, where a service by the Woman's Auxiliary of VFW Post 4906 will take place at 5 p.m. and the rosary recited at 7 p.m. Funeral services will begin at the funeral home at 9:15 a.m. on Thursday and proceed to St. Thomas Aquinas Church for a Mass of Christian Burial at 10 a.m. Interment will be at Restlawn Cemetery. Tributes in memory of Olga may be made to Helping Hands of St. Louis.

http://www.ourtownsylvania.com/Our-Town-Business/2012/11/17/Sylvania-Township-breaths-easy-with-its-no-smoking-policy.html

“It's something we've been thinking about for awhile," she said, noting that it seems like the natural decision to make "if we're going to try to get our employees healthy...”

I wonder if they also do the grocery shopping pack lunches for their employees?

Here's a true story about Lunchables: at my current job, I am required to wear an H2S monitor on my collar. It beeps if Sulfur fumes or a variety of other nasty gases enters my breathing zone. One time, I was eating lunch, a Lunchables "pizza" kit. When I peeled off the plastic, my monitor started beeping. SWEAR TO GOD.

Just saying...

The only thing I can think of that is more dangerous to society than secondhand smoke is the possibility that the gay guys who live next door to me might someday get...MARRIED. That and Sunday Liquor sales.

Good thing folks on all sides of the political spectrum are keeping up the fight to control other peoples' lives. It's good to know nothing can ever hurt my body or soul thanks to them.

How can you post with your head so far up your own ass? Your "questions" are irrelevant and written by a moron. Bye!

I'm totally right. That's why you can't smoke in a bar and why you're whining about it on a forum. We win.

We've tried that. It didn't work. The regulations on smoking, however, have worked.

same principle, besides I'm quitting anyways, one less paying the ungodly tax.

Good luck to you. Quitting was one of the best things I did.

I don't smoke. I don't support public smoking.
But let's be real here:

They both lived to 92. NINETY TWO.
Do you know where they rank among their peers?
As freaking SURVIVORS.

Connecting their deaths at 92 to second hand smoke is weak sauce. They outlived their actuarial life expectancy. It's called a "win."

God Bless both ladies, and their families.

"Connecting their deaths at 92 to second hand smoke is weak sauce."
Hey, justread, don't you recognize facetious remarks? SherryET was speaking tongue-in-cheek.

No. I used to be able to, but then I spent political season here and can no longer discern facetious from fact. A steady diet of absurd rhetoric delivered with conviction killed it.

You should probably assume everything is facetious unless otherwise indicated. Except for what I said just, of course. Maybe...

By the way, neither of these women died of anything to do with lung problems.

Hey, I haven't read the Toledo Blade lately, but from the comments posted here and elsewhere, it seems they've taken on the personna of CNN/FOX news. This is exactly what individuals who came from the communist side of Europe tried to expalin to me back in the 1980s. They said our right of free speech was slowly deteriorating and we will be deceived by those that we trust. I hate sudden reality.

weird thread bump award of the day goes to tom shiba