How local authorities are waging war on smokers
Sunday, September 20, 2020 at 12:57 Forest has a new report coming out tomorrow.
It's called 'Smokefree Ideology: How local authorities are waging war on choice and personal freedom' and it was researched and written by Josie Appleton, director of the Manifesto Cub, a civil liberties group.
We gave the Telegraph a sneak preview and a report can be found in today's paper. Naturally it leads with the most newsworthy angle – Council banned staff from smoking at their desks at home.
The report is based on responses to a Freedom of Information requests that was sent to over 350 councils in England, Wales and Scotland earlier this year.
I'll post a link to the full report when it's published tomorrow. Meanwhile here's the press release which includes some other findings – Report: Local authority war on smoking a "moral crusade".
Reader Comments (2)
It is time to end the oppression off smokers. Smoking bans are a moral crusade and the health pretext is dubious.
Data supporting smoking bans is manipulated, subject to a range of biases, and dissent is violently suppressed. Public authorities ignore voices of the public that reject bans and antismoking activists expressly reject public comment and dissent.
Many of these activists are funded by the government to promote these political ends whilst suppressing dissenting political speech. These efforts are also in part funded by corporate interests that profit from the suppression of smoking.
Thank you for bringing this suppression of liberty and political process to light.
Still fighting last years war these councils are behind the times already.
Covid 19 BMJ
Accepted 13 July 2020
Association of each outcome with smoking status
"There was a small increased risk of both adverse outcomes among ex-smokers compared with never-smokers.
We observed a markedly decreased risk of both COVID-19 disease and ICU admission in smokers. The apparent protective association was greatest for heavy and moderate smokers and most markedly on the risk of ICU admission which was 88% lower in heavy smokers compared with non-smokers (figure1B)"
https: //heart.bmj.com/content/heartjnl/early/2020/07/31/heartjnl-2020-317393.full.pdf
Nitric oxide or nicotine, the results of the ongoing clinical trials are yet to come in, but they are coming.