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India government bans sale of tobacco and liquor

Indians queue outside store in Chennai
© PTIA queue outside a TASMAC store in Chennai, on March 21, 2020.
The central government has banned the sale of substances like liquor and tobacco during the extended lockdown in place to ensure social distancing, a key tool in the fight against the coronavirus.

In a list of directives released Wednesday, enforceable under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the government banned the sale of liquor, tobacco and gutka. It also said people who spit in public would be fined. (For a summary of the national directives, click here.)

The novel coronavirus, known as SARS-CoV-2, causes a potentially fatal respiratory illness -- Covid-19 -- and spreads primarily through respiratory droplets produced when a person talks, coughs or sneezes.


Smoking

New York physicians urge Gov Cuomo to issue order banning sale of all tobacco products to battle coronavirus

Person smoking
© Warren Lynam
A group of doctors and medical professionals think forcing New Yorkers to kick the habit will help battle coronavirus.

The New York State Academy of Family Physicians is urging Gov. Cuomo to issue an executive order banning the sale of all tobacco products, citing a study that found smokers are at an increased risk of being impacted by the respiratory illness.

"As our state and country struggle to respond to the rapidly evolving and escalating COVID-19 pandemic affecting our residents and straining our healthcare system, mounting evidence demonstrates the link between tobacco use and increased risk for progressive COVID-19," the group's president, Dr. Barbara Keber, said in a statement.

Prior to the coronavirus crisis, Cuomo had already made curtailing the growing popularity of vaping a priority.

Comment: See also:


Smoking

Ireland bans menthol cigarettes, rolling tobacco and all branding as part of EU's dictatorial anti-smoking directive


Comment: Just as the 'Corona Lockdown' commences too. Sneaky pathocrats!


smoker
In Ireland, menthol cigarettes and rolling tobacco, along with irregularly shaped packs such as skinny cigarettes will be banned from May 20.

Also included in the ban are click dual cigarettes that change from normal to menthol.

It's all part of the four year phasing-out period of the EU Tobacco Product Directive which entered into force in May 2014 and became applicable in all EU countries on May 20th 2016.

Branding outlawed too

Comment: People have been benefiting from smoking tobacco for thousands of years, and those who can see through the lies of the fascist anti-smoking brigade are unlikely to stop any time soon. Now, more than ever, do those people need Nicotine - The Zombie Antidote. Also check out SOTT radio's: The Health & Wellness Show: The Truth about Tobacco and the Benefits of Nicotine


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Smoking to be banned at all train stations, platforms in the Netherlands

Train station smoking ban in Netherlands
© Zachary Newmark/NL TimesPassengers board a Brussels-bound train at Amsterdam Centraal, 9 May 2018.
Smoking will soon be forbidden at all train stations across the Netherlands, according to national railway NS. The organization is working with railroad infrastructure firm ProRail to expand the existing smoking ban to include platforms and other station facilities.

Smoking facilities on the platforms will be removed in October. ProRail previously said it would dismantle all areas where passengers may smoke by midway through 2021.

Tobacco products will also no longer be sold at NS-owned shops, namely Kiosk and StationsHuiskamer, beginning April 1. The tobacco ban will be in place at these 136 sales points. The NS holds the rights to several AH to Go franchises located at the train stations. In total, the NS operates about 270 shops.

"In addition, NS will no longer close new contracts with tenants who want to sell tobacco at the station," the NS said in a statement.

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Nanny State: Greece PM says no exemptions in smoking ban

Greece smoking ban
© ekathimerini.com
Three days after Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis unveiled his government's plan to crack down on smoking in public places, inspections were in full swing Thursday as Deputy Health Minister Vassilis Kontozamanis vowed that the law would be enforced "to the letter."

Kontozamanis' comments came amid calls for exceptions to be granted to large nightclubs and other venues.

"We all know that governments in the past did not dare to fully enforce the law," Kontozamanis told Skai. "Things have changed."

Asked whether any concessions could be granted for casinos, betting shops and nightclubs - where opposition to change has been most vehement - Kontozamanis said there would be no exceptions.

"If we start with the loopholes, the law won't be enforced," he said. He added that the government's key aim was not to raise revenue but to protect public health. "It is the state's duty to protect, to inform, to warn people, and that's what we're doing with the full ban on smoking," he said.

Comment: See also: Smoke, Lies and the Nanny State


Smoking

Fascist: German Medical Association calls for complete ban on smoking advertising

Smoking is better than Fascism
© kospan13/ebay
Germany is the only country in the EU that still allows tobacco companies to advertise their products on billboards and in cinemas. Now, doctors and some politicians pushing to change this.

"The tedious and long-standing discussion about poster advertising [of smoking] is dismal," Klaus Reinhardt, president of the German Medical Association, told Spiegel Online.

"You can't accommodate the industry here. Smoking is harmful, period," said Reinhardt, who said that all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, should fit under the ban.

Germany was one of the last EU countries to adopt a smoking ban in 2007, although rules are still relatively lax, with many pubs, restaurants and public places still allowing it within their premises.

Lighting up is still widespread throughout the country, with 18.6 percent of women, and 26.4 percent of men, over aged 15 stating that they are smokers, according to 2017 data from the Robert Koch Institute.

Comment: Historically speaking, these 'bans' on smoking mostly occur in totalitarian states - Nazi, Germany being a prime example. Hitler would be so proud. These doctors should be more concerned about the health damage from extraordinary levels of pollution in Germany.

For the truth about tobacco and why the PTB want to stamp out smoking, see:


Smoking

Russia's Emergency Ministry bans smoking on apartment balconies

Russian woman smoking on balcony
© Getty Images (file photo)
Russian smokers have been left gasping after the emergencies ministry announced that smoking on the balconies of apartment blocks would be banned under new fire regulations.

Under the new rules, "open fire" is prohibited on apartment balconies, as well as in the living areas of dormitories and hotels.

Lighting matches and smoking are both classed as open fire, officials say. Barbecuing kebabs and lighting candles will also be banned, reports say.

There was initial confusion as to whether smoking was included in the ban, with one tobacco industry official insisting that the new rules were all about "alcoholics who grill shish kebabs on the balcony".

No Entry

New York governor Cuomo announces hysterical emergency ban on most e-cigarette flavors

Gov. Cuomo
© Go Nakamura/New York Daily News
Amid growing reports of vaping-related illnesses and even deaths, Gov. Cuomo announced an emergency ban on all e-cigarette flavors other than tobacco and menthol.

"Vaping is dangerous, period," Cuomo said Sunday.

"This is a burgeoning health crisis," he added, vowing to "take action now."

Cuomo called out flavors like bubble gum and cotton candy that are aimed at young smokers.

"These are obviously targeted to young people and are highly effective," Cuomo said, pointing to federal stats from 2018 showing vaping among high schoolers had increased 160% over the past four years.

Comment: See also:


Smoking

There's no proof that the vape flavor ban will help kids

vaping man
While Michigan's flavor ban won't help kids, it will harm adults.

"As governor, my number one priority is keeping our kids safe," Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told The Washington Post. Unfortunately, her executive order to ban flavored e-cigarettes will not accomplish that goal. Instead, this misguided attempt to limit youth vaping will undermine the harm reduction benefits of e-cigarettes for adult smokers and will increase police interaction among vulnerable populations — including kids themselves.

Tobacco users who switch from combustible cigarettes to e-cigarettes experience various improvements in health. These include quick improvements in lung function and reduced exacerbation of COPD symptoms, research shows. Using e-cigarettes also helps people quit smoking altogether, with twice the success rate of other quit methods. Punishing people in possession of these safer products while leaving combustible products alone will do little to improve public health.


Comment: The dangers of combustible products (i.e. tobacco cigarettes) are greatly exaggerated. See:

Everyone can agree that protecting our children is paramount, but the flavor ban does nothing to aid in this effort. Researchers have yet to demonstrate that an e-cigarette flavor ban will prevent minors from obtaining and experimenting with tobacco products, including far more dangerous products like combustible cigarettes. This means that the ban will not only make adult smokers less likely to switch to vaping or quit tobacco altogether, but also will not succeed in its primary aim of reducing youth vaping rates.

Comment: One can't help but wonder if all the hysteria over vaping isn't a backdoor way to ban use of all tobacco and nicotine products.


Smoking

Smoking hysteria: 50-year smoking study overlooked

Person smoking
© Warren Lynam
If I were a smoker I think I'd be absolutely fuming if I was called a bludger on the front page of my local paper (Chronicle 08-05-15) but that is how it is now: Smokers are regarded as second class citizens and anyone can bully or abuse them.

Still, there was some good news for smokers because we learned that two out of three smokers will die which I suppose means that one in three smokers won't die!

You can't get such good odds on immortality any other way.

And that shows how ridiculous the claims of the anti-smokers have become.

They can make whatever ludicrous or outrageous threats of death and disease they like without the slightest question or criticism and that is extremely unhealthy in a democracy.

No one else is allowed to go around threatening and frightening people like that.

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