Surgeon General Warns Smoking Ban May Be Harmful
According to a newly released five-year study by the Department of Health & Human Services, the smoking ban in New York and other major U.S. cities has lowered the overall life expectancy for residents of those cities. Due to improved appetites and maladies associated with prolonged outdoor exposure, particularly in winter in the Northeast, the Centers for Disease Control report sharp increases in both obesity and pneumonia-related deaths.
Data from tobacco-friendly states confirms these findings. In Virginia, for instance, where indoor smoking is still permitted, obesity, hypertension and diabetes have remained constant. But in Washington D.C., doctors are reporting a 15 percent to 20 percent increase in these potentially fatal diseases.
Meanwhile Massachusetts, which passed a smoking ban in 2004, has experienced levels of pneumonia and influenza not seen since the Great Depression. And with the additional sanitation workers the state must now employ to handle the glut of cigarette butts clogging public alleys instead of ashtrays, Massachusetts finds itself unable to pay for basic universal care.
Data indicate that similar problems may affect smoke-free municipalities along the Eastern Seaboard and California. As a result, federal estimates have been reduced for both the quality-of-life index and the general life expectancy for these so-called "Blue Lung States." And while efforts are being made to reach out to Big Tobacco to help address this crisis, most experts agree that the damage done by the smoking ban is probably irreversible.
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By Emil Steiner | April 1, 2008; 1:00 PM ET | Category: OFF/beat
Posted by: | April 1, 2008 3:48 PM
As much of an April fools joke as this is, there may be some truth to it.
Posted by: | April 1, 2008 5:16 PM
no matter what these people think or say,the very concept of smoking bans is communist.we wouldn't have these problems if tobacco products, such as cigarettes, were still all natural. It's all the artificial additives that are killing people, not the tobacco it's self. But, people who are to lazy too educate themsevles will continue to drink the coolaid.Take California for example, the surgeon general forced tobacco companies to put labels on the packaging stating that cigarette smoking causes cancer in California. Anyone who has ever been to California knows it's the air pollution that's killing so many people there.So as long as we have weak minded people running things,we will have these problems.The people desperatly need to stand up for their rights and freedoms and demand all natural tobacco only.These states that have forced these bans should be protested and even boycotted for their dictatorship. Any law that will effect an individuals way of life and or business income, should be put to public [popular] vote.Have our law-makers forgotten about "liberty and the pursuit of happiness"? I know a lot of war vets that have bars and clubs,who are up in arms because the very freedoms they fought for and were wounded for are being taken from them.The most asked question i here from them is "why can't this issue be left up to the business owners"? They are out-raged that these people took away their right to choose,especially when these people will NEVER step foot into these bars and clubs.Home of the free? not any more!
Posted by: bobbi | April 1, 2008 9:54 PM
Hey Hey Dont knock California.. Yeah So. CA has bad air quality but those of you who dont know.. we dont all live on the beach in 70 degree weather sippin mai tai's in our flip flops every day.. Those that think everywhere in CA is like that needs to get their head out of the movies..
Posted by: Jae | April 1, 2008 11:00 PM
Home the free should mean we are free to smoke any kind of cigarettes we like, organic, natural or full of delicious chemicals. My body, my choice!
Posted by: Vamooose | April 1, 2008 11:01 PM
yuck it up
Posted by: | April 2, 2008 4:02 PM
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April Fool!