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from the all-those-in-favour,-please-cough dept.
Austria has one of the highest rates of smoking and youth smoking among high income countries, and that might not be changing anytime soon:
Many Western countries have banned smoking in bars and restaurants, but Austria is bucking that trend. Under a law passed in 2015, Austria was due to bring in a total ban this May, but now its new government of the conservatives and the far-right Freedom Party have scrapped the plans.
The move was spearheaded by the leader of the Freedom Party, Austria's Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, himself a smoker, who told parliament last month that it was about freedom of choice. He said restaurants should be free to decide if they want to have smoking sections, where "a citizen has the possibility to decide perhaps to enjoy a cigarette or a pipe or a cigar with their coffee".
The move has horrified Austria's medical establishment. Dr Manfred Neuberger, professor emeritus at the Medical University of Vienna, says it is "a public health disaster".
"The decision is irresponsible. It was a victory for the tobacco industry. The new government made Austria into the ashtray of Europe."
Meanwhile, the country is considering buying more jet fighters, recruiting more police, defunding its public broadcaster, and examining its past.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by jelizondo on Friday February 16 2018, @06:05AM (31 children)
Why the double standard? Carbonated drinks have been linked to a rise in diabetes; taxes on the stuff are raised but they’re not banned. Fats are linked to cardiovascular disease but not “sin” tax applies much less a ban. Lack of exercise is linked to several types of disease but no government decrees one must exercise.
Since tobacco was introduced to Europeans it has been deemed a “sinful” pleasure therefore it is easily targeted both for more taxes and as a public health issue.
So I can go to a restaurant (particularly in the U.S. of A.) and get myself a heart attack and diabetes but heavens forbid that I get lung cancer from smoking.
Either ban all harmful substances or let us decide which we ingest.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 16 2018, @06:09AM (2 children)
(let the cliche-s season begin)
Only a Sith deals in absolutes: the dose makes the poison.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by jelizondo on Friday February 16 2018, @06:11AM (1 child)
Fine, I'll settle for a little smoking in public places so that the dose is reduced according to your comment. :->
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 16 2018, @06:25AM
Cool - first step was made. One convinced, millions others ahead.
Patience (and tobacco) will be necessary on the way.
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 16 2018, @06:15AM (2 children)
Yet.
We're already at the point where McDonalds has to badmouth and memory-hole its menu items. I think it is conceivable that in 10 years of time you may have to present a ration card to get a few ounces of a prepared sugary beverage.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 16 2018, @05:53PM (1 child)
What I think is interesting is that nobody cares about other fast foot places. Everybody just beats up on McDonald's for no particular reason I can figure.
I'll grab breakfast there sometimes, maybe like once in two weeks. But when I stop by there for breakfast, I want a calorie-dense, greasy, buttermilk egg, artery clogging McMuffin.
(Score: 2) by dry on Friday February 16 2018, @11:02PM
McDonald's did really market themselves to children and parents of children and it is children who have the least critical thinking skills and habits acquired in childhood are likely to persist.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 16 2018, @06:50AM (4 children)
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 16 2018, @07:25AM (2 children)
My experience tells me there's no relation between the health care cost of smoking and the excise the Australian govt imposes on tobacco. If any, there seems to be an actual inverse correlation: the less Australians smoke, the higher the excises.
More likely, the direct relation between the ciggies taxes is with the level of desperation of the govt of the day to reduce the budget deficit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 16 2018, @10:03AM (1 child)
They say that they use the proceeds of the ciggy tax to fund antismoking campaigns and support the additional load smoking adds to the public health system
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 16 2018, @10:16AM
LMFAO... That's bullshit and I know it. [youtube.com]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by dry on Friday February 16 2018, @11:05PM
There is also the problems of various perfumes that people wear, often in huge amounts as they've de-sensitived themselves to it, that make other people sick.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday February 16 2018, @07:11AM (7 children)
You drinking soda doesn't increase the likelihood of me getting cancer
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 16 2018, @07:31AM (6 children)
Me smoking my ciggies doesn't either. The Internet techs of the day don't allow one to download the smoke even if the one would want to. Just sayin'
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday February 16 2018, @08:04AM (5 children)
True, 'tis a long way from there, where you be, to here, where I be.
Not so far if you are the person smoking or who has just smoked where I am, however.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 16 2018, @09:56AM (4 children)
Ha! Here's an idea: send me the smokers and I'll keep them nearby, I'll send you the 90% or so of Melbourne who don't smoke for you to cherish them. Deal?
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 3, Funny) by MostCynical on Friday February 16 2018, @10:16AM (1 child)
We don't have enough laneways or coffee shops to handle that many.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 3, Touché) by c0lo on Friday February 16 2018, @10:29AM
See what I have to put up with on a daily basis, then?
And you'd have the hearth to ask me to quit smoking?
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2, Funny) by nitehawk214 on Friday February 16 2018, @08:40PM (1 child)
I think a country already tried sending all of their undesirables to Australia.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday February 21 2018, @10:09PM
Obama made a VERY DUMB DEAL with Australia, I left it alone because I CAN'T STAND talking to Turnbull -- worst conversation ever. Now we're getting the WORST of their so-called refugees! But they're taking some of ours. Winning!
(Score: 5, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Friday February 16 2018, @07:13AM (2 children)
I have never heard that one person drinking carbonated drinks caused other people getting diabetes.
I have never heard that one person eating fat caused other people to develop cardioviscular disease.
I have never heard that one person not exercising caused another person to get ill.
Note that the smoking ban is only for places where others inhale the fumes you produce.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 16 2018, @05:56PM
I have never seen evidence of one person eating fat that caused them to develop cardiovascular disease.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 16 2018, @08:38PM
Parents who drink soda give soda to their kids! The soda must be banned!
(Score: 3, Insightful) by stretch611 on Friday February 16 2018, @07:49AM
In addition to the other comments about how you only affect yourself with your choice of meals and drinks instead of the people around you that inhale your smoke, there is one other important difference.
While the excess of carbs can cause diabetes, a lack of carbs will cause you to die. There is a reason why diabetics take insulin... so that they can process enough carbs to survive.
And while fats are not needed as much as sugars are, proper diets do include them.
It is one thing to create a sin tax on items not needed at all for the human body such as cigarettes, it is something else entirely to tax something that is a requirement for human survival such as basic foods. While foods can get sales taxes in the US, many jurisdictions reduce or eliminate sales taxes on food items.
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 16 2018, @03:34PM (2 children)
I think the difference is that you can enjoy your sugary drink without forcing those around you to ingest any of it. The same cannot be said of tobacco.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday February 16 2018, @11:59PM (1 child)
Snuff and chewing tobacco are taxed to the same level as ciggies.
That does tell something, I wonder if you can detect what.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday February 21 2018, @10:17PM
Smoking is a BAD & DISGUSTING habit. And so is TAXING!
(Score: 2) by Taibhsear on Friday February 16 2018, @04:03PM (3 children)
You can't get second hand diabetes or cardiovascular disease... No one says you can't smoke. You just can't do it where it would harm others that decided NOT to smoke. It's not rocket surgery.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday February 16 2018, @04:33PM (2 children)
Or, on the less authoritarian hand, you could simply not go somewhere when you know that there is going to be smoking allowed. You know, exactly like the majority of men don't go to male strip clubs because they aren't interested in seeing dong flopping all over the place.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 16 2018, @08:10PM (1 child)
Violating work safety laws, employees should not be required to breathe second hand smoke. Sorry but some authoritarian rules are necessary, like not polluting the environment or building industrial spaces in residential areas.
Anarchy is bad mmmkay?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday February 16 2018, @11:22PM
As I explained above, you're twenty years late with that argument. Even if allowing smoking in your business were legalized again, nearly nobody would. Most people do not smoke anymore. If you have to spend an entire day shopping around for something to piss you off, it is not a valid concern.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 16 2018, @07:08PM
Your heart attack and diabetes do not directly harm the health of other patrons. Apple meet orange.