Smokers invited to campaign against the ban
A glance at irishhealth.com and a similar poll shows that 33% of smokers and non-smokers think "the ban in pubs should be overturned."
Better again, a quick chat with smokers huddled in the rain might yield a 1% support level.
Who pays or funds the OTC to carry out the poll or, indeed, the various research companies that claim such nonsense.
It might also be informative to discover how the questions were phrased in this poll, ie, "do you think it is a good thing that your children are not being murdered any longer?"
As with the introduction of the ban itself, wild statistics were conjured up to frighten and influence people.
Micheál Martin said 3,000 people a year were dying from environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) while Luke Clancy of ASH said it was 7,000 big difference. The truth is that not one Irish person has been registered as dying from ETS.
Only four out of 77 scientific studies of ETS found it to be harmful. All of the others found it to be insignificant.
Smokers have not been organised and they have been publicly shamed for engaging in a habit that is perfectly legal and nothing to be ashamed of.
But that is about to change.
A new organisation called European Smokers Against Discrimination has been formed to fight for smokers' rights and to set the record straight.
Visit us on the web at esadonline.org and support our efforts to have the law amended to cater for smokers and non-smokers in public places.
John Mallon
5 Shamrock Grove
Mayfield
Cork.
