4 - Sunday, June 12, 1994 - North Shore News

Harassed
paying for their
own persecution

Doug
Collins

ON THE OTHER HAND

NT WILL be no news to
many people that I spend my
life in a state of puz-
mlement. And some-
thing that has puz-
zled me for a long
time has been where
the anti-smoking
fanatics get their
funds from.

It’s aot that Lama
pro-smoking fury. Being
pure in body and mind
(with one or two excep-
tions), [have never
sucked on cigs. But I
object to the massive dis-
crimination against those
who do — even though |
don't want smoke puffed in my
face.

Ithas been apparent for years
that the anti-smoking lobby has
tons of moncy. You don’t get full-
page ads in the dailies for a song.
They come at about $25,000 a
crack.

Being naive, | imagined the
anti-smoking lobby had received so
much money from rich doctors and
the like that dollars had become no
object — as with Greenpeace.

But now I have seen the light in
the shape of a column in the busi-
ness pages of the Globe & Mail. It
revealed that we Simple Simons are
the ones who have been forking out
all that loot. ;

In 1993 alone, reported Terence
Corcoran, the Non-Smokers Rights
Association (NSRA) got $515,000
from federal and provincial grants

‘Two of our oxcepticaclly low-priced models,
Alex and Susan Tilley.

and another $130,000 in the for
of tax-deductible charitable dona-
Ginas front corporations and institu.
tions.

So in the last 10 years the
NSRA must have been the happy
recipient of millions of tax dollars.

Nice work if you can get it, and
you can always gecitif you have a
liberator feflewing cituse,

There's more. fh 1993, actual
NSRA membership fees produced a
measly $9,878. Which means that
at $30 per membership there are
probably only 300 non-stiokers
across Canada whose rights are rep-
resented through the NSRA,.

Tes enough to harden a man’s
arteries.

The indignant. -will-save-you-
in-spite-of-yoursel! soul who beads
the NSRA is a guy named Garfield
Mahood.

His salary is $85,000 a year. A
co-conspirator gets a similar

66... adults should be able to decide
for themselves whether they want to
die by smoking, eating, drinking,
jogging, or sexing, without being

nagged and prodded to death.

amount. Most of the rest goes on
office costs and “research” ~
designed to bolster propaganda.

Not only do Mahood & Co.
make a fat living, courtesy of the
taxpayer: they also use government
money to influence government
policies. You scratch my back and
Ill scratch yours.

So smokers are paying for their

-own persecution. And theyre going

to pay again, Ottawa having just
announced that it will be throwing
another $185 million towards the
anti-smoking campaign. Pop goes
the weasel.

This here non-smoker is not sug-
gesting that. smoke is a health food.
But adults should be able to decide
for themselves whether they want
to die by smoking. eating. drinking,
jogging. or sexing. without being
nagged and prodded to death.

Besides. there ts evidence that at
lotof the taformation put out by the

health fascists is bilge, like the suit

on “sidestream smoking.”

If sidestream smoke killed, |
seould have been ded long ago,
having stewed in the smoke: flted
newsrooms af yesteryear.

But in 1992 the Britis Medical
Journal stated thatthe risk of get-
ling lung cancer fron keeping pel
birds was greater than getting it
from sidestream effect,

And the National Cancer
Institute in the U.S. says that
ththough second-hand smoke isa
cancer risk, sods tip water,

How about the “death stittis-
tur”

Pay your money and make your
choice,

“Smoking kills three tillion
people a year, UN agency says. .
(Headline in the Vancouver [diot)

“250 million in industriatized
cowatries Mone will die
from smoking.” (Globe
& Mail editorial.)

But as a prominent
British doctor has writ-
ten:

“Any death from cir-
culatory or respiratory
problems is likely to be
attributed to smoking.”
Of course. But propa-
ganda is poured to the
foolish like chickenfeed
99 to hungry hens.

Some further
thoughts for the
Mahoods who have
tried to stop all tobacco
advertising and would
banish smokers to Siberia if they
could.

Cars kill thousands every year.
Why not ban car ads?

And what about AIDS, which is
not only dangerous but deadly. Yet
we invite AIDS-curriers to come to
Vancouver for a conference. And _
the feds give them a million-dollar
grant.

Then there’s TB. It's increasing,
in large part because it is being
brought in by immigrants from
pestholes like Somalia. Do the feds
worry about that? Not so you'd
notice.

Final thought: Adolf Hitler led a
pure life. Didn‘t drink, didn’t
smoke. Ate no meat. Blew his
brains out at 56.

Winston Churchill drank a tot,
smoked cigars, liked steak. Died in
his bed at 9).

He'd LOOK GOOD in it; he'd USE it; and you'll be PROUD to
have given It. Heaven knows it's presented to Royalty often enough!

OH, THE WONDER OF iT!

Sinart-looking and comfortable,
the Canadiso-made Tilley Hat

is acknowledged the best, most
practical outdoor hat in the world.

Here’s Why:
« it floats (it sails in the Olympics
and America's Cup)
¢ Hes on (with front and back
adjustable, tuckaway cords)

* repols rain (great for tekking;
Sir Edmund Hiilary wears it)

* biocks UVA end B

- won't mildew

+ won't shrink (machine washable)

« comes in every human size
including grandchildrens’

+ replaced free if it ever wears out

« insured against loss (all-peril;

50% deductible; 2 years)
* four-page Owner’s Manual
» eight Brag Tugs to have fun with!
Mode! T3, $48.
Satisfaction ? Guaranteed.

Caution: If it in’ a Tilley Hat, # isn't a Tilley
Hat, Tilley Hats de not shrink or fall apart.

ADVERTISING
CORRECTION

EATON'S SUMMER BOOK

Page 12+ Les Deckers winkle-free panis. All
sizes may Not be available in all stores
Page 37 - tem N- Exton’s Regency’ quiled
mattress pad incorrectly described’ Not Du Pont
Lycta (spanden) sides
Page 42 + Item C - Goldstar microwave oven
Mode! GSC-4006M Incorrectly descnbed. Should
nol have stated “only at Eaton s”
Due to suppher deivery problems, tne item(s)
fisted beiow are not avalabie for immediate
delivery However orders will ve accepted for
Gelwery by the date shown
Page 15 {tem A+ Round Ginss Tabla
8- Parsons Chat
Will be availatle July 15th.

Page 16:47 Shlar-Pepltar Lawson Style
fem E - Chait

F . Ontoman
‘Will be available June 30th
‘Couniry Classics’
Item C. Cotton Quit

Ct-Sid Stn

C2-Boudow Cushant
Wil be availadie June 30th.

tnadvortently the erors ksted above have appeared in
oud advortising Ve sinc oredy toyed any inconvenience oF
contusion to Gu! custoines.

EATON'S

pent aeenaa,

Page 20

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