Velvet Glove Iron Fist A History of Anti-Smoking

velvetgloveironfist.com ^ | Christopher Snowdon

[Eric Blair 2084]

Velvet Glove Iron Fist
A History of Anti-Smoking

by Christopher Snowdon

The book

Welcome. Thanks for visiting and please stay a while. Velvet Glove, Iron Fist is the first comprehensive history of the anti-smoking movement. This book has not yet been published but several chapters are available here free of charge (these are chapters three, ten, eleven and thirteen). Or you might prefer to start with the introduction.

In the news

05.08.08:Velvet Glove author obtains data from Wales showing that heart attack incidence rose after the Welsh smoking ban. Politician accused of wilfully misleading the public. See original article and this from Dr Michael Siegel, plus this from (the excellent) Reason magazine.

31.07.08: Ten months after it hit the headlines, the Scottish heart attack study has finally been published. Initial suspicions have been confirmed. Read more here.

06.07.08: The British Medical Association sets 2035 as a "realistic" date for wiping out smoking in the UK, according to the BBC.

28.06.08: ASH (USA) supports banning smoking in the home "even if no nonsmokers' health is being put at risk". Tobacco control expert Dr Michael Siegel criticises the measure here.

More news in the archive

What's new?

A selection of articles about recent events or subjects too obscure to fit into the book:

In the first five months of the Welsh smoking ban, heart attacks incidence was higher than in the previous year. No one would claim that this was related to the ban. So why, when incidence goes down, do some people attribute it to the legislation?

Cartman takes on the anti-smokers

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone talk about why they wrote an episode attacking the anti-smoking movement.

Twisted liberty

What would the great libertarian John Stuart Mill have made of the modern anti-smoking crusade?

Myths and Reality (revisited)

In October 2007, the anti-smoking pressure group Action on Smoking and Health released a press release which dismissed claims that pubs and bingo halls would see a drop in trade as a result of the smoking ban as 'myths'. This article examines how credible ASH's position is six months on. This topic is revisited here.

Publish and Be Damned looks at the claim that heart attacks fell dramatically in Scotland following the smoking ban. Updated here: Scottish Heart Miracle Unspun.

For those who might be interested, I have compiled a full, annotated list of every passive smoking study ever conducted involving women married to smokers. 64 studies are assessed in total, most of which can be downloaded in full here or here

What they're saying about Velvet Glove

"Prepare to learn a lot, and much in the nature of revelations, from a dedicated researcher and lucid prose stylist."

"Highly provocative and consistently entertaining"

"I think this is a remarkable book. It deserves to reach a wide audience."

"An absorbing read, I have just finished the history of tobacco section and was educated in an enjoyable way, I will certainly be buying this book when it is published."

"Mr. Snowdon's prose is lucid and dispassionate, his reporting is meticulous, and his research is awesome."

"Thanks for the preview, Chris...absorbing reading and easily understood by the layman."

"Absolutely epic piece of work, well done!"

"I just read everything and I think your book will be excellent. We just had a total smoking ban pass here in Louisville and I have been very curious about why this has happened so fast and to such an extreme. Your book answered many questions. I can't wait to read the rest."

Although parts of this book have been made available free of charge, all material on this website is subject to copyright. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any party without prior written permission of Christopher Snowdon.

You can contact the author by e-mail at author@velvetgloveironfist.com

Thanks for visiting!

• • Home page

  • Mailing list

  • Further reading

  • About the author

  • Contact the author

• Chapters

  • Introduction*
  • One
  • Two
  • Three*
  • Four
  • Five
  • Six
  • Seven
  • Eight
  • Nine
  • Ten*
  • Eleven*
  • Twelve
  • Thirteen*
  • Fourteen

Passive smoking

• The Evidence
• The Evidence (pdf)

Other articles

• Scottish Heart Attack Miracle
• English Heart Attack Miracle
• Myths & Reality (revisited)
• Twisted Liberty
• South Park creators on smoking
• James Repace thinks of a number
• Secondhand News
• The Helena Miracle
• 10,000 deaths
• The Untouchables

Links

• Americans for Nonsmokers Rights
• An Englishman's castle
• ASH (UK)
• ASH (USA)
• Centre for History in Public Health
• The Devil's Kitchen
• Dissecting Antismokers' brains
• Filthy smokers
• Freedom2Choose
• FORCES
• Forest
• GASP
• History Today
• March of the Zealots
• Quick Hitts podcast
• The Rest of the Story
• Reason
• Spiked
• Tobacco Control

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[Eric Blair 2084]

I would have written this book myself :-), but I was busy. Family, job.

A shout out for a fellow freedom fighter.

[Eric Blair 2084]

Shameless, unsolicited plug. I don't know this guy and I've never read the book that hasn't even been published. But if somebody went through all this trouble to say something, he should at least be heard.

Big Brother, Nanny State, Grant Junkie, Bogus Study, Junk Science, Social Engineering, Egalitarian, Central Planning, Sheeple Control, Health Nazi, Socialism, Collectivism

This is an extremely low volume ping list. 6 per week max. To be added to or deleted from this ping list, please click one of the following:

Eric, you are a genius add me to your ping list or Eric, you are a jackass, take me off this ping list

To request that I stop using these gay html colors and fonts, please send me a private message below.

____________________________________________________________________

Constitution of the Left Wing Nanny State of Liberals:

Picture courtesy of unixfox. All rights reserved. Copyright MMVII. Any use of the pictures descriptions or accounts of this ping without the express written consent of unixfox, Eric Blair, or Major League Baseball is strictly prohibited. Some restrictions apply. Ping not available in all states. For erections lasting longer than four hours, call the Guiness Book of World Records. Use only as directed.

Preamble:

We the People Sheeple of the United States Nanny State, in Order to form a more perfect Union Socialist Utopia, establish Justice Socially engineer a country of non smoking, physically fit, teetotalers, insure domestic Tranquility Smoking bans in bars, limits on unhealthy food and social drinking, provide for the common defense Universal Healthcare, promote the general Welfare health of the population whether they like it or not, in order to save above mentioned Universal Healthcare entitlement program from bankruptcy, and secure the Blessings of Liberty Dependency to ourselves progressive liberals and our Posterity Hitler Youth who we brainwash through public school education, do ordain decree and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Nanny State of Liberals.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

06.07.08: The British Medical Association sets 2035 as a "realistic" date for wiping out smoking in the UK, according to the BBC.

And when outraged people start assassinating doctors, the British government will wonder what the hell's going on...WITH A STRAIGHT FACE!

[oyez]

[Nipfan]

All I know is that I move away from anyone who’s smoking, can tell from 10 feet away if someone has just had a cigarette and am profoundly grateful that I no longer have to put up with it at work and on public transport.

Leaving aside all the well documented health issues, I can’t work up too much sympathy for smokers because they had none for me when I was coughing and sputtering in their wake.

[GOP_Lady]

Thank you for posting, Sir Eric. I hope all is well with you and yours. :-) I will read this.

[GOP_Lady]

I’m glad I don’t take public transportation. My husband and I won’t, and he’s retiring after 31 years of service in public transportation. Complain even after you’ve gotten your way. Gees.

[Eric Blair 2084]

Dr. Feel is here. I feel your pain. I understand. Smoke is smelly and annoying.

I feel the same way when looking at a fat woman in spandex. Annoying. It should be banned. Or an annoying woman on a cell phone. Noise pollution.

When even “conservatives” on a conservative forum agree that stopping people from annoying others is a legitimate government function, than I know that the day when stupid drunks, fat asses and yentas on cell phones will soon be a thing of the past. Change is good, Comrade.

Just remember that when you are dragged onto the boxcar with your cellphone. In the meantime, let me call the Dr. He might help you.

[Nipfan]

I wasn’t complaining. I was simply stating my point of view. There is nothing to complain about because second hand smoke is no longer forced on me. But for a long time it was.

I am not saying that people should be forced to stop smoking, although I think it would be in their best interests to do so. What really gets my goat, though, is cigarette companies advertising to children, to hook the next generation.

[Eric Blair 2084]

My initial diagnosis is that you are just a garden variety COC who falls under the A category.

I'm here to help you and provide a public service for a fee. I am a fully trained psychologist specializing in Nanny State Behavior Syndrome (NSBS). This liberal, left wing, social engineering disease is horrible and can strike anyone at anytime. It can even strike Conservatives who believe in free markets and limited government.

Thankfully, Dr. Feel (a wholly owned subsiduary of Dr. Phil) is here to help you work through your problems.

Please answer the questionaire below, so I know how best to treat you. And please have your insurance card ready for the wallet biopsy. This is a Capitalist country and I don't work for free.

I discriminate against smokers because:

A. The smell of smoke is icky and yucky, it makes my hair and clothes stink and I hate walking into a bar/restaurant where people are smoking. So rather than take advantage of the free market and go somewhere that is voluntarily smoke free, I would rather use the power of the state to impose my personal preference on my fellow citizens.

A1. My __________ (choose one: Dad, Mom, Uncle, Aunt, Grandfather, Grandmother, older sister, brother, babysitter, next door neighbor, mailman) abused me by smoking ________(choose one: Marlboro, Merit, Kool, crack, Camel, Kent, marijuana) in the __________ (choose one: house, car, bar, juvenile detention center) when I was a kid.

B. My beloved ___________ (choose one: husband, wife, father, mother, brother, sister, nephew, niece, uncle, aunt, maid, dog, cat, goldfish, gay lover) died from _________(choose one: cancer, heart disease, emphysema, car crash, train wreck, terrorist attack, sting ray) because of their smoking.

C. I smoked for _____ (years) and now I am ________ (choose one: missing it, sick, dead, born again, enlightened, ashamed of myself, if I can't do it, nobody can) and want to share my experience with others.

D. The Big Tobacco companies are lying scumbags and must pay! (you're not coming down off the mountain with the tablets there)

E. I represent Big Pharmaceutical interests that benefit from the anti-smoking movement because it increases the sales of our Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) products.

F. I am a deeply caring individual in the mold of Mother Theresa and I am speaking out due to my benevolent, philanthropic, altruistic concern about the health of my fellow man.

G. I am a research scientist and grant junky, and if I don't tow the party line my grant money will disappear.

H. I'm just a garden variety Fascist and Totalitarian and get a ______ (choose one: cheap thrill, natural high, erection, orgasm) by imposing my will on other people.

I. I am a retard who believes in bogus studies, junk science, the Easter Bunny and the Toothfairy. I fear that because I walked into a bar on Spring Break in 1987, and was exposed to Second Hand Smoke I now suffer from ______(choose one: AIDS, Herpes, Athletes Foot, Jock Itch, male pattern baldness, or genital warts)

J. I am a disgruntled, prissy and angry employee of a ______(choose one: bar, restaurant, club, casino) who can't leave the job because I am a _______(choose one: slave, indentured servant, sweatshop laborer, illegal immigrant) and had no idea there was smoking going on in the place before I took the job.

K. An elected public serpent, serving as a _____ (choose one: State Assemblywoman, Senator, Freeholder, city councilman, mayor) and I have failed miserably in my job and trying to tackle really tough problems like _____ (choose one: gang violence, income taxes, property taxes, crime, corruption), so I will support a smoking ban based on the talking points and literature that "M" has given me and claim that I have actually accomplished something to help my constituents.

L. A Socialist liberal Democrat who is desperate for Universal Healthcare so the proletariet will continue to keep me in power. But if I don't do something about the "demand side" health care costs caused by such global health menaces as _________ (choose one: Marlboro, Merit, Kool, Big Macs, Whoppers, Chicken McNuggets, Budweiser, Coors, Jack Daniels) my health care entitlement program will go ________ (choose your adjective: broke, belly up, bankrupt, insolvent).

M. A professional anti-tobacco activist who makes $450,000 per year. MY GOAL IS TO REDUCE SMOKING RATES FROM 25% TO BELOW 10%. KICKING THEM OUT OF THEIR FAVORITE BAR AND RESTAURANT IS JUST A SMALL STEP TO COERCE THEM TO QUIT. I DON'T EVEN BELIEVE THE SHS NONSENSE MYSELF! Don't you dare try to ban cigarettes, if you do I will have to go back to my previous job ______(choose one: prostitute, drug dealer, pimp, state assemblyman, mayor) where I won't make nearly as much money and the bank will foreclose on my seaside villa and repo my _______(choose one: Lexus, Mercedes, BMW, Hummer, Infiniti, Acura,Jaguar, Volvo, Bentley). I take advantage of the prejudices of categories A-L above to accomplish my goal.

N. I am a Religious Fundamentalist who believes that smoking is strictly forbidden in the ______(choose one: Qu'ran, Bible, Torah, Old Testament, New Testament, David Wells' autobiography "Perfect I'm Not", Hustler Magazine)

O. I don't fit any of the above categories, I just like to argue with people.

[Eric Blair 2084]

i can cure you in 9 minutes. You’ll thank me.

[Eric Blair 2084]

Schedule an appointment with my assistant.

[GOP_Lady]

Sir Eric, when was the last time you saw someone with a lit tobacco product on any type of public transportation? Would the answer be decades?

[GOP_Lady]

"I am not saying that people should be forced to stop smoking...

I live in Ohio, explain to me then why hubby and I have to go to Vegas for him to enjoy a cigar with his adult beverage with other like-minded adults. Explain to me why it is illegal anywhere in Ohio for him and others to do that.

[fanfan]

Thanks for posting this.

I’ve bookmarked it.

:-)

[Nipfan]

Is it really? I didn’t know. Obviously, I don’t know the reason. Most of the really draconian laws are, rightly or wrongly, based on the idea of medical expenses borne by society as a result of smoking. I don’t advocate prohibition (look how that worked out last time) and people should be able to choose for themselves. I just don’t want to be subjected to it.

[outofsalt]

Ping. My workplace is about to go smoke free. I wish I could afford to quit (working there, that is).

[outofsalt]

When ever I’m told that we must “promote” good health in the community I have to stop and ask just how far should we pursue this goal?

Should employees or customers who have a good tan be reprimanded for their additional cancer risk? They set a bad example!

Should employees or clients who drive sport cars or motor cycles or, Heaven forbid, murderous SUV’s, be ostracized for their roadway perils? Don’t they have a responsibility to park “off site”, you know, to set a good example?

Whatever shall we do with the over weight? Should they not eat in the cafeteria lest children see their gluttony?

Should single moms be tolerated in the workforce? Do they not send a bad message to our youngsters? Unsafe intimacy of any sort should be considered with All of its predictable hazards as something to regulate as well! Wantonness spreads more illnesses then tobacco, does it not?

Smokers are an easy target. We can’t have any offensive smells in our society. Offensiveness might be taken from the scent of certain perfumes as well, no? Will your right to wear perfume indoors be next? Think about it! Smokers now go outdoors to “have a moment” soon however, you will not be able to “freshen up” because of my sensitivity.
Land of the free?

[gwilhelm56]

I find it so amazing that normally sane Conservatives can become so NANNY STATE MARXIST when you mention Tobacco or “The Fair Tax”.

If not for tobacco, there would BE no United States as it Financed the Revolution. And with that in mind, tobacco is ... STILL LEGAL! If it's so Dangerous, Ban the stuff ... and don't come whining to us Smokers when your Federal taxes QUADRUPLE and your STATE taxes QUINTUPLE to replace the Tobacco tax money.

I haven't ridden Public Transit since 1976... and you couldn't some on them even back THEN! If the patrons of my Restaurant wants to Smoke ... I'll put a sign on the door ... WE WELCOME SMOKERS ... that means if a non smoker wishes to enter, they WHINE AT THEIR OWN RISK!
After reading some of that sight and looking at the companion originals, tobacco smoke is nothing more than an INCONVENIENCE. Don't dare give me “THE Surgeon General” CRAP, as they changed the parameters of the test halfway thru to get the result they wanted ... the scientists that blew the whistle, are now obscurely unemployed as the govt pulled ALL THEIR RESEARCH FUNDING and GRANTS from their Former University.

Once Again, Are you a Conservative or a Hypocrite LIBERAL... make up your mind, THEY can't be both.

[GOP_Lady]

I don’t understand conservatives either at times either. I have never liked the flat tax either. I think it all comes down to this — people want what they want and want what they perceive will be beneficial to them, even when it will not. People don’t want to take the time to think of the results and consequences.