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Next Ontario Smoking Law --- Banning smoking in your own apartment or condo???
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| Jayx1 |
Even I didnt see this one coming. But alas we are on the slippery slope downward when it comes to trampling on individual rights in this province so it unfortunately doesn't surprise me one bit.
| quote: | As I walked towards my suite I heard someone sneeze in the condominium unit just two doors from mine the other day. Frankly, I was appalled.
Does this individual not realize he is endangering my health? The spray from that sneeze can surely seep under the doorway or through a keyhole, into the hallway, and then under my doorway or through my keyhole. Perhaps I should call one of those ambulance chasing lawyers.
I gag at a whiff of garlic. Now, the doors in the units in my condo building seem to be airtight – I stress the word seem - but are they really? It's true, I've never actually smelled garlic in my unit emanating from any other units on my floor, but that doesn't mean minute quantities of garlic odour aren't sneaking out from under the door or through the keyhole. Or perhaps through telephone hook-up connections or even squeezing themselves through microscopic inter-connecting holes in the wall.
So cooking with garlic is not only offensive but an offence against me personally. It should surely be banned.
Some - compulsively rational individuals - might think I am a raving hypochondriac or even a fanatical meddlesome busybody. But one has to be on the alert all the time. Never miss a beat. And that seems to be the motto developed at the government-sponsored Ontario Tobacco Control Conference this month.
Its adherents believe so-called second hand smoke can seep through phone jacks, electrical outlets, ceiling fixtures, cracks in walls and gaps around sinks, and through floors, walls and windows. So they want to ban smoking in multi-unit dwellings. Not simply in elevators or hallways - but in a person's own private home.
Conference officials issued a news release on this issue following their meetings and while initially getting municipal, provincial or federal governments to act on this dire emergency may seem daunting it is a job that must be tackled.
"A lot of work needs to be done on this issue, starting with raising the awareness of the health risks and the rights of tenants and landlords,” admits tobacco control consultant Melodie Tilson, "but in the meantime people who live in apartments and condominiums can install physical barriers to minimize how much tobacco smoke enters their homes."
Well, I've never smelled any second-hand smoke in my unit that has seeped through telephone jacks, electrical outlets, or obviously porous walls, but it seems to me the anti-tobacco lobby has missed a point or two here. Why are they not concerned about peanut oil?
Millions of people cook using peanut-based oil, and thousands of people are allergic to peanuts. So obviously there must be a huge public health danger - including deaths -by allowing people to cook with peanut oil in their homes in multi-unit dwellings.
Some people find perfumes sickening. We need to move on that front, too. Ban people from wearing perfumes in their homes. How about those plug-in scents that are all the rage now? No one needs a plug-in scent in their bathroom. Look at how the scent can seep through the hole in the sink or even through water in the toilet and contaminate the entire complex's air and water.
Surely we live in a dirty world and must take absolutely draconian measures against the Fifth Column infiltrators of tobacco users, sneezers, garlic loves, peanut oil cookers, perfume wearers and plug-in scent aficionados. If not, we''re all lost. Am I crazy?
I would be if I actually meant what I just said. Of course, I did not mean it - I was using humour to make a point. Unfortunately there are powerful groups out there who are not joking. If they get their way we really are all lost.
- Paul Jackson is a veteran Canadian journalist who just happens to be a non-smoker
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| Jayx1 |
Another article here:
| quote: | Fear mongering and Loathing in Niagara Falls
Here we are coming to the end of another year, which means we are also unfortunately hearing about another anti tobacco conference and another round of calls for new extreme measures against smokers. This year’s anti tobacco conference was held in Niagara Falls last week and its conclusion was as predictable as it was disturbing.
During three days of secretive meetings, the anti tobacco lobby issued a news release calling for smokers to be evicted from their condos and apartments and used fear mongering to pit neighbour against neighbour in multi-unit buildings.
It is trying to scare non-smokers into believing that even a mere whiff of tobacco smoke could endanger their lives. Their press release states: “Drifting second hand smoke can come from a variety of sources including open windows or doors, neighbouring balconies or patios, electrical outlets, cable or phone jacks and ceiling fixtures…”
This type of fear mongering is loathsome and clearly designed to increase harassment of smokers. With the anti smoking lobby fueling the debate over smoking in multi-unit apartment buildings, I expect that it will only get worse and we clearly have to take a stand.
The real distressing part of this whole debate is that, initially at least, no one in the media seemed to pick up on the lack of any evidence to back up the new demand, or the dangerous territory into which it could lead us. Think about it - if second-hand smoke can snake its way through telephone jacks and cables, then anyone with peanut allergies should be concerned about neighbours cooking in peanut oil and having the aroma seep through the walls. After all even the smallest exposure to peanut products can produce severe, even potentially lethal, allergic reactions in some who are allergic. Whom would we turn on next? Should we start fearing neighbours who are sick because we are supposed to fear that their germs can come into our homes through the phone jacks?
Meanwhile, In late November a round of public hearings in Windsor to hear first hand how that city has suffered since the ban. Two Windsor city councilors were kind enough to chair the meetings and got an earful from bingos, bar owners, charity groups, smokers and others. Windsor has been hit hard by the ban – its casino has laid off workers and charity groups are closing their doors because of a lack of revenue from the bingos. It is a desperate situation. In the end, the city councilors agreed to ask the two Windsor MPPs to meet to discuss the issue and try to resolve the problem.
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Welcome to Soviet Canuckistan! |
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| Adamo |
| impossible to enforce |
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| Platipus |
I smell burnt toast..
BAN IT |
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| Jayx1 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Adamo
impossible to enforce |
how?
If someone does in fact smell smoke in your condo they can call the smoke police.
Dont underestimate the cattiness of your neighbours. |
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| zokissima |
| As you said, it doesn't really surprise me. This is just getting a little ridiculous. |
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| patpicos |
whoever can smell smoke from another condo through electrical holes and so on should be hired by customs to sniff drugs! lol
i think the arguments in the article are pathetic.
On the other hand, smoking truly disgusts me. I think they should start enforcing the no-smoking in clubs. If it was only about me, smoking would be banned outright across the country, no exceptions.... but who am i! |
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| nusty |
| NYC just banned trans fat. |
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| StereoPrincess |
| quote: | Originally posted by devnull
whoever can smell smoke from another condo through electrical holes and so on should be hired by customs to sniff drugs! lol
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my application is in and being reviewed. |
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| StereoPrincess |
| quote: | Originally posted by nusty
NYC just banned trans fat. |
but fat trannies are still ok. |
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| rabbitjoker |
| quote: | Originally posted by StereoPrincess
my application is in and being reviewed. |
She does have a good nose... |
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| EvilTree |
| quote: | Originally posted by StereoPrincess
but fat trannies are still ok. |
*snerk*
What's next? Perfume? Because some people have allergic reaction to perfume.
Curry? Because we know how much that stinks up the entire hallway :rolleyes: |
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