Campaigner for choice in the news on car smoking ban

Local campaigner Bill Gibson hits the headlines in Dumfries-shire (again).

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This time he addresses the car smoking ban proposed by the BMA: he points out that air cleaning technology renders car smoking bans quite unnecessary. (Unfortunately the article omits a paragraph, which probably named the Brussels Declaration on Scientific Integrity.)

So far the debate in the Scottish Parliament has been limited, with one Oral Question to the Public Health Minister, Michael Matheson, who insists that there is 'no intention' to even have a public consultation on the issue in Scotland 'at this stage'. That won't please Sheila Duffy and her ilk and they will want to know why we don't protect children when we make such a point about protecting adults.

Scotland might very well come under pressure to pass a car ban. Northern Ireland is already making plans. The Guardian reports:  

... the BMA hopes that the devolved administrations in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, which are pursuing some innovative public health measures such as alcohol minimum pricing and presumed consent organ donation, might take their own action.

 The Prime Minister has expressed himself to be 'nervous' about a smoking ban in cars. After all, 

"We do not believe that legislation is the most effective way to encourage people to change their behaviour," a Department of Health spokesman said.

Eh?

The Welsh Assembly wants an educational approach for three years and then to apply a ban if people don't mend their ways during this time. I have to say their logic is provoking. As I've already said, passive smoke exposure is already so lethal that adults have to be protected from it, with savage penalties handed down to transgressors of the public smoking ban. But for exposing children (allegedly exposed eleven times more than in a bar) there is a three-year period of grace. 

Who understands these people?

Stirling University takes down Facebook page on Philip Morris issue

Please correct me if I'm wrong but it looks as if this highly entertaining page – Stirling University Freedom of Information Request – has gone. Has been spirited off the face of Facebook. The link takes me to my home page, as if the Stirling University page had never existed.

Surely that was a bit drastic. They were ahead on the vote (last time I looked), most voters expressing support for the University's position. Must have been the arguments that scunnered them! from Bill Gibson, Dave Atherton, Iro Cyr, Cage Canada and others.

Background links here.

Air quality standard eliminates need for smoking ban

Bill Gibson of TICAP (The International Coalition Against Prohibition) attended last month's meeting at Westminster supporting an amendment to the smoking ban. His response is published below (Annandale Herald, 7 July):

 

 There is indeed a European-approved air quality standard (EN 13779) as stated in this letter. This standard acknowledges that smoking is an important factor in air quality but simply handles smoky air differently from air in a non-smoking environment. 

It doesn't state that it's impossible to remove smoke from the air, in spite of what the EU published two years after this standard appeared. 'There is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke, and notions such as a threshold value for toxicity from second-hand smoke should be rejected, as they are contradicted by scientific evidence.' Eh? The air quality standard (EN 13779) doesn't even argue that smoke isn't toxic – in fact it  specifies tobacco smoke as an air quality issue that must be resolved in order to achieve good indoor air. The idea that tobacco smoke is the only pollutant that cannot be dealt with effectively by technology is laughable. 

Air Manager is an officially approved air cleaning system. Question 7 of its Frequently Asked Questions reads 'Does Air Manager remove harmful chemicals?' The answer: 'Yes. AirManager is scientifically proven to remove chemicals, VOCs (volatile organic compounds), tobacco smoke etc in excess of 99.999% in a single pass.' I can only repeat, Air Manager is an officially approved system (UK Accreditation Service). Why do they go to the trouble of approving this technology, only to then allow another government department to convince the public that it doesn't really work?

Bill Gibson does right to draw attention to EN 13779 (air quality standard) document and show its relevance in the smoking ban impasse.

Update 9 August: The EC has carelessly lost track of the link to the key document, EN 13779. Courtesy of Freedom2Choose we now have an alternative link to the original document.