Book: The Smoking Issue

Author: Joe Jackson
Publisher:

WRITER and musician Joe Jackson has launched a blistering attack against those who want to ban smoking in all public places.

In his book 'The Smoking Issue,' published by the smokers lobby group FOREST, Jackson expresses his resentment at what he calls the 'systematic demonisation' of smokers.

Jackson rightly suggests that smokers are now the only minority who are not only abused but whose minority status is quoted as justification for abuse.

A self-proclaimed social smoker who is `pro-choice`, Jackson has researched smoking issues in depth over the last three years and has become increasingly sceptical about the 'overblown hysteria whipped up by recent anti-smoking propaganda'.

According to him it has become fashionable to blame smoking for a whole range of problems we don`t really know what to do about, a distraction from more serious problems.

Arguing that those in favour of an outright ban have latched on to the 'junk science bonanza' of deeply flawed and inconclusive studies on the dangers of passive smoking in an effort to legitimise their demands for a smoke free world, Jackson adds, 'The only real justification for a total legal ban would be incontrovertible proof that environmental tobacco smoke is a deadly health hazard.'

According to Jackson the vast majority of studies on passive smoking have proved inconclusive. He adds that when studies do find risks, they are still so small they would not be taken seriously in any normal scientific context. 'Statistically you are more likely to die in a bicycle accident, or from being left-handed and using right-handed things, than from exposure to smoke.'

In `The Smoking Issue` Jackson also examines the reaction to the ban on smoking in New York and the effect it has had on trade in the hospitality industry. The musician, who lived in America for 20 years before returning to Britain in 2003, has first-hand experience of the New York ban: 'Anyone who actually goes to NY bars and clubs knows that the ban is extremely unpopular and causing all kinds of problems, `bad vibes,` and a significant loss of trade.

In an excellent little tirade (there are many), he writes:'It is disingenuous to say that smokers are not being barred from the bar, but just barred from smoking. This is like telling a vegetarian that his favourite restaurant has been turned into a steakhouse but he`s still welcome.'

As a parting note, I read this book on plane while on my way back from a recent trip to Europe and I realized how easy really it was for me to find 'smoking zones' in European bars and airports than in most Asian countries. The irony being that according to most 'studies' and statistics, smoking was on the rise in Asia compared to Europe or the west. And yes, talking about planes, any ideas about an airline that still allows smoking?