Coffin nails

In the cut throat world of the Australian state school system in the 1980's and early 1990's, kids were often under considerable peer group pressure to take up cigarette smoking in order to fit in and be seen as "cool." As I was never part of the in crowd, this never concerned me.

To combat this, in 1986 public health authorities devised the Bag the Fag campaign, reaching the youth of Australia with the message that they didn't have to smoke to be cool, just like the trendy looking, but clean living people in this promotional video. I have no idea if the singer wearing sunglasses is Brian Mannix from the Uncanny X-Men, or a lookalike. The song also sounds similar to Pete Townsend's solo hit from the previous year, Face the Face. 

What do Kevin Rudd and Al Gore have in common?

You know something? To lose a loved one after a serious illness and prolonged hospitalisation is one of the most testing, and for good or ill, cathartic life experiences that anyone can go through.

As a cursory reading of his blog will show, Conservative commentator Andrew Bolt is no fan of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Barely a day passes by without Bolt sticking his boots into Rudd over something.

The federal government has announced plans to increase taxes on the sale of tobacco products by 12.5 per cent over the next four years. This will add an estimated $5.00 to the price of a packet of 20 cigarettes by the end of 2016. According to the government, revenue raised will be used to fund cancer-related health services and new policies to discourage people from smoking.

Personally, I support any government measures to discourage smoking. This is all well and good, but it seems Rudd has been caught out using the death of his mother for political purposes. Because of his apparently contradictory public statements on this matter, it is unclear if she died of lung cancer or Parkinson’s disease.

His mother died in 2004, and depending on the audience, whether its to justify this tobacco tax increase, meeting a Parkinson’s disease sufferer, or supporting a womens cancer charity, he appears to embellish the story of her death to suit the occasion.

I couldn’t help but remember former US Vice President and 2000 Democratic Presidential candidate Al Gore, who on the one hand reached out to tobacco farmers, and on the other gave an embellished account of his sister’s death from lung cancer, and how this moved him to do whatever he could to protect America’s children from the dangers of smoking.

This is called “making an emotional connection.” If you wanted to be cynical, you could say that this is a euphemism for spinning personal adversities to manipulate the electorate, and all in the name of political expediency. Not only is it dishonest, it is also offensive to anyone who grieves the premature loss of a loved one due to serious or terminal illness.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-01/premier2c-quit-victoria-welcome-plan-to-increase-tobacco-excise/4857842

http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/kevin_rudd_recalls_illnesses_of_his_mother/#commentsmore

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/choice2000/etc/transcript.html

A (partial) spring in my step

According to a newly published peer reviewed study conducted by the Cancer Council of Victoria into Australia's plain cigarette packaging laws, those smokers surveyed reported an increased desire to quit the habit and reduced enjoyment of smoking.

As I've written on this blog before, the tobacco industry, which is also disputing the findings of this study, campaigned strongly against these reforms, but the Australian government proceeded with them anyway.
Now it seems safe to say that its actions have been vindicated.

According to research cited by Action on Smoking and Health Australia, tobacco kills around 15,000 Australians a year, which is more than the combined death toll from road accidents, alcohol, illicit drugs, all homicide, HIV, diabetes, skin cancer, and more. Tobacco smoking is the biggest single preventable cause of both cancer and heart disease, which are the two leading causes of early death in Australia; and is linked with the seven diseases causing most deaths.

Tobacco is responsible for more than $31 billion a year in costs to the Australian community. Tobacco is responsible each year for:

• Around 15,000 deaths (not including secondhand smoke exposure, which may be up to 2,000 more); average 36 deaths a year aged under 15.
• 56% of total drug abuse costs - more than alcohol and all other drugs combined.  
• Over $15 billion in workplace costs - twice as much as alcohol and all other drugs combined.
• Over 750,000 hospital bed days - around 8% of them occupied by children under 15.
• Over $600 million in hospital costs.

You might read this and think that individuals' lifestyle choices are none of my business. and that I'm being a wowser and a killjoy. If people want to smoke it's their choice. As a taxpayer, I have the right to speak on this issue. This is a public health issue. Through the Medicare system, a portion of my taxes contribute towards running Australia's public health system, and therefore treating people suffering from tobacco related health problems.

As you can see from the bullet points above, the costs are staggering, running into millions of dollars per year. That is millions of dollars in health funding that could have been used to employ more doctors and nurses, reduce elective surgery waiting lists, or build more health care facilities. Instead it has to be used to deal with the damage this immoral industry inflicts upon society.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-07-22/research-backs-move-to-plain-cigarette-packaging/4835060
http://www.ashaust.org.au/default.htm
http://theconversation.com/plain-cigarette-packaging-works-study-16269

Good news, everyone

Today the High Court of Australia struck down a legal challenge by tobacco companies to the federal government's plain cigarette packaging laws. This is a crushing blow to their long running campaign against these laws, which I have written about previously. They unconvincingly attempted to persuade the public that this campaign was about protecting their individual freedoms from an intrusive government that was trying to take away their rights.

Anybody with a skerrick of discernment could see through this facade. For years these tobacco companies have tried to cover up the serious health risks of using their products, and have often mounted scare campaigns against government attempts to regulate their industry. They're not fooling anybody. It seems to me that all they care is about protecting their revenues, and if they expect sympathy from me, they won't be getting it. My bleeding heart.

Vietato fumare

Members of the Occupy Melbourne movement

Corruption and greed were contributing factors to the global financial crisis/crises. The worldwide Occupy movement claims that the capitalist financial system is irredeemably corrupt and needs to be overturned, and also campaign against what they see as greedy, exploitative multinational corporations. By all means call for stricter regulation of the financial system, and for corporations to conduct themselves more ethically, but at least be consistent about it.

Over the weekend I was in the city and saw a small group of Occupy activists holding court in the City Square. I noticed that one of them was smoking a cigarette. Presumably he was smoking tobacco, which strikes me as somewhat ironic. After all, the worldwide tobacco industry strikes me as being especially amoral.

Despite a wealth of scientific evidence, for years the industry denied that tobacco consumption was hazardous to health. It lied, and despite the lawsuits brought against it many countries, it has never been brought to account for its activities. Every Australian taxpayer has to bear the burden that tobacco related illnesses place upon the public health system. Then it deviously campaigned against the federal government's plain cigarette packaging legislation by feigning concern about the threat it posed to personal liberties.

If I was one of these activists, I would have thought having a smoking habit and thereby contributing to the revenue of a multinational tobacco company would be against my principles.

Fuming

The Stop This Nanny State website

The tobacco industry has fired off another artillery round in its ongoing campaign against the federal government's planned introduction of plain cigarette packaging. It has already tried to tell us that there is no evidence that these reforms will deter people from smoking, and that plain packaging will only encourage the illegal trade in counterfeit tobacco products. It would have us believe that these reforms are threatening our personal liberties.

How fortunate we ordinary citizens are that we have benevolent tobacco companies to stand up for the rights of the little person against governments who want to runs our lives for us. One tobacco company has set up a website, as seen in the screen grab on the right. If you feel so inclined, you can visit the website, look at the slightly sexist caricature, and then send a message to your local parliamentarian to voice your opposition to the reforms. I'd sooner ask my MHR and Senators to pass the legislation.

If it's all the same to you, tobacco companies, I will definitely not be supporting your campaign. I can see through your blatant window dressing, and your attempts to hold the federal government to ransom by threatening a High Court challenge against the laws. Pardon my cynicism, but I put it to you that your real concern with these reforms is the affect they may have on tobacco company revenues. To find out more about the tobacco industry's misinformation campaign, visit this website.