‘Smoke an

THE health Nazis are

going great guns.
Smokers are the lep-
ers of the New Age.

You can have AIDS and
become a hero. But if you
Smoke you are dirt. The day
: May even come when you
‘will be sent to a camp. ;
T speak as one who has’
never let the weed stain his
pure lips. But I draw the line
at smoking only when some-
“one blows the stuff in my
face. And even then it's not
~ because it may give me lung
cancer. It won’t.

. The Health Nazis are as
dotty as the medieval
Crusaders were. They preach
daily on the awful things that

will happen if smoking is
allowed in restaurants.
“,,, There's no doubt that per-
onal smoking kills, But even
then it doesn’t kill for sure.
That old guy. over in China,
"’ Deng, is still puffing away in
“his 90s. So was Winston...
“. Churchill.
“Personal smoking can give

Doug

Collims

on the
other hand

if it’s a ticket to an early
grave, so what? Aren't people
entitled?

Smokers who die carly
deaths are doing socicty a
good tum.

They don’t cost the coun-
try a fortune for pills and all
the other glories of old age
and medicare. Without them.
the Canada Pension Plan
might survive.

While they live and
breathe, smokers contribute to
the general good. I read some-
where that they pay about
$700 a year each in cigarette
taxes. Well, that’s $700 3 don’t
have to pay.

A big part of the terror

campaign against smokers is
directed against sidestream
smoke. Catch a whiff of that
and you're dead , claim the
Health Nazis. So city councils
run for cover. What a lot of
henhearts!

There are plenty of studies
showing that sidestream
smoke is not dangerous. But
you don’t get to hear about
them.

Here are three examples:

The British Medical
Journal claimed years ago that
the risk of getting lung cancer
from keeping pet birds is
higher than getting it from
sidestream smoke.

In the U.S. the National
Cancer Institute says that side-
stream smoke is a cancer risk.
But so is tap water, they add.

And last month the U.K.
Medical Research Council
reported that tobacco smoke is
not a significant factor in res-
piratory problems.

The two things that have
the most effect are dust mites
and nitrogen dioxide released
in the burning of gas and
wood.

direct smoking. According to
another report, 15 studies out
of 17 showed there was no
statistical relationship between
“passive smoking” (side-
stream effect) and respiratory
problems.

Smoking may even do you
some good,

It has been claimed in the
British Medical Journal that
smoking can protect against
getting dementia. Against
going nuts, that is. And the
incidence of Alzheimer’s is
said to be three times greater
in non-smokers than in smok-
ers.

The Health Nazis‘ rage
knew no bounds when the
Supreme Court found that
bans on cigarette advertising
was a violation of Charter

rights. Does cigarette advertis- -

ing help to kil! people? What
if it does? Doesn't automobile
advertising? Don’t thousands
die in road accidents? And
how about the 100,000 babies
we get rid of every year
through abortion?

Some of the headlines are
a joke. “Smoking deaths
expected to hit 10 million a
year,” was a recent one. How
do they know?

Jokes abound. In the U.S. a
murderer was denied a last
cigarette. He could have his

Cocu Cola and pizza but
smoking indoors was barred
under Utah's clean air act,
said the warden.

What this is really all
about is that a lot of people
are opposed to a free society.

In Ontario a “task force”
wants the government to
launch an all-out attack
against “tobacco, fatty beef
and other bad lifestyle
choices.”

Stand to your beds, every-
one. Do you have clean fin-
gernails? Der Fuehrer comes!

QoQ

In the May/June issue of
Reality, the magazine pub-
lished by Real Women of
Canada, it was stated that the

Vancouver Sun's Ottawa cor-
respondent, Peter, O'Neil, is a
member of the National
Lesbian and Gay Journalists
Association (NLGJA).

t used the Reality state-
ment in my column of
Wednesday, July 10.
However, Mr. O’Neil is not a
mernber of that group. I regret
the error and apologize to
him.

— The North Shore News

believes strongly in freedom of

speech and the right of all
sides in a debate to be heard.
The columnists published in
the News present differing
points of view, but those views
are not necessarily those of:
the newspaper itself. ;

DRAPERIES a

you, throat or Jung cancer, But That report dealt with ,

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