Irish senator wants EU to ban "all commerce in tobacco" by 2030
Saturday, November 24, 2012 at 12:33 Nine days ago I reported that a motion to ban smoking in the grounds of Leinster House, home of the Irish Parliament, had failed.
Senator John Crown, the man behind the proposal, is zealously anti-smoking and was said to be "raging" after the Joint Health and Children Committee rejected the idea and voted for an amendment that favoured a voluntary solution.
The following day the Irish Independent published an article by Crown (I'm determined to smoke out Leinster House addicts) in which he explained that the proposal to make the Leinster House campus smoke-free is "a small part of a more ambitious set of anti-tobacco measures".
These include legislation to ban smoking in cars when children are present and a campaign – Stamp out Smoking 2030 – that urges the European Union to ban "all commerce in tobacco" by 2030.
I need hardly tell you that Prof Crown is an ex-smoker. He also has some bizarre ideas about risk and personal responsibility:
Anyway, I am pleased to report that the Irish Independent today published a letter by John Mallon, Forest's representative in Ireland, in response to Crown's article.
We originally submitted an article, which was accepted for publication, but the story was overtaken by other breaking news and the piece got spiked.
The letter, an edited version of the article, concludes:
The logical extension of banning smoking in the grounds of Leinster House is that we prohibit it in parks, on the beach and in the street. None of these measures can be easily policed, nor would we want them to be.
Prof Crown says his move is "for the smokers' own benefit". I would respectfully suggest that responsible adults are better placed than he is to decide what is for their own benefit.
We all know the risks of smoking. But we must be careful as a society not to go too far. Life is full of risks. If we try to eliminate all risks through draconian legislation we create a society of busybodies, snitches, snoopers and law-breakers.
You can read it in full here: Kicking butt (Irish Independent)
Reader Comments (4)
Senator John Crown's proposal to urge the European Union to ban "all commerce in tobacco" by 2030 is preposterous to say the least. I don't know anything at all about this man, but to come up with such an ill thought out, half baked proposal as this, he must be a half-whit.
The following countries are the main producers of tobacco, and rely heavily upon it for a large percentage of their growth income: China - India - Brazil - United States - European Union - Zimbabwe - Turkey - Indonesia - Russia - Malawi. There are of course other smaller countries, which also produce tobacco.
Tobacco production, growth and manufacture also supplies millions of people in these countries with employment; if the EU did take up Senator Crown's proposal, who on earth would compensate all these countries for their loss of income?
Not only would this cost the EU billions in compensation payouts, but they would also need to pack even more money into these countries to retrain the millions who had lost their jobs - one could go on indefinitely with the list of what this idiotic proposal would cost, which obviously Senator Crown hasn't had the foresight to even contemplate.
Europe are in enough trouble as it is with their finances - this would be the straw that broke the camel's back!
Ah well, they are 30 years off plan. The original date set for tobacco eradication and criminalisation of adult consumers was back in 1970 for the year 2000. That's why they had to bring in the ban to hurry this agenda along a bit because we stubborn smokers still refused to quit and ignored their hysterical scaremongering.
It's also worth noting that not a single study on alleged SHS was done when tobacco eradication was decided four decades ago by people who frankly had no other motivation than phobia and hatred of an industry they disliked.
2030? Not a chance. People are now wise to the scam and its basis - except obviously the useful idiots and prejudicial bigots who are always required in helping to push discriminatory propaganda along.
From 2010: New study shows cigarette cravings result from habit, not addiction:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-07/afot-smo071310.php
Isn't tobacco one of the most heavily subsidised crop in the EU CAP ?