(Dubuque, Iowa) Grant County Health Department enacts smoking policy

[ezmoose]

TH - Local News Article

Not about E Cigarettes per se; just some lunacy to ponder!

According to the policy, all care providers or staff employed or contracted by the health department shall not have an odor of smoke or tobacco products on their clothing, personal items, hair or breath while on or off the premises during working hours.

I guess you can't smoke in your car on the way to work?

Perhaps it's a hint of their mindset regarding all tobacco products?

 

[Our House]

I guess you can't smoke in your car on the way to work?

Neither can your passengers. Or anyone you live with.

"Please don't smoke around me. You want me to get fired when I go into work later on?"

 

[harmony gardens]

Time for the courts to step in. They are stepping off the cliff with this one.

 

[harmony gardens]

I forwarded this to Ed Shultz. He loves to take on psycho talk like this.

 

[Vocalek]

What if the client him/herself smokes?

 

[PaulB]

I forwarded this to Ed Shultz. He loves to take on psycho talk like this.

I dunno--I've heard Ed gratuitously badmouth smokers on his radio shows. Makes me like him far less than his colleagues.

I'll bet a few employees have armed themselves with carloads of Febreze.

 

[MoonRose]

This has gotten totally out of hand. Basically what they are saying is that if you work for us, we own you 24 hours a day. Sounds like slavery to me.

 

[Chasm]

Invasive - not only of the individuals privacy, but also his/her freedom of association since, according to the antis, you can be contaminated by merely associating with a smoker.

OTOH - might be an excellent reason to switch to e-cigs both individual and associates.

OT3^rdH - it's just too damned draconian to put up with it.

 

[bassnut]

The policy also states that health department employees should ask a patient or member of the household to refrain from smoking while they are present, citing policy. If the person does not comply, the staff person should provide the services needed and report the non-compliance to their supervisor.

Then what? Will they report it to the police?

 

[PlanetScribbles]

This has gotten totally out of hand. Basically what they are saying is that if you work for us, we own you 24 hours a day. Sounds like slavery to me.

You are right. If anyone wants to talk about the American constitutional right to not be enslaved then this is the one everyone should scream about.
WTF right is it of any employer as to whether you smoke in your own presence? They are not purchasing their employees, just taking them on temporary lease.

 

[rothenbj]

I volunteer at a thrift store taking care of a small bookstore size used book area. I generally buy non-fiction for my personal reading material. That being said, it's been a lot of years since I read 1984. As I recall the book, I believe that, by now, it'll be more like reading futuristic history.

 

[Bill Godshall]

Once again, please do NOT post Off-Topic items on this thread.

As one who has been working very hard to ensure that e-cigarettes and their usage remains legal throughout the US (as well as other countries), and as one who has been working to generate positive news stories on e-cigarettes, its very frustrating when those important topic threads are moved off the front page of E-cigarette News because others have posted threads that have nothing to do with e-cigarettes.

Those who want to discuss tobacco or smoking policies can do so at the many different tobacco websites and blogs.

 

[ezmoose]

According to the policy, all care providers or staff employed or contracted by the health department shall not have an odor of smoke or tobacco products on their clothing, personal items, hair or breath while on or off the premises during working hours.

Just because you don’t see the connection doesn't make something invalid.

Take a chill pill bill! lol

 

[BCB]

As a person who smoked for 46 years, I believe cigarette-related stories ARE pertinent to e-cig issues. I must wholeheartedly agree with ezmoose on this one.

 

[PlanetScribbles]

Every authoritarian restriction on smoking represents a potential future restriction on vaping. We all know that this river only flows one way, unless diverted by brute force.

 

[rayneinspain]

I dunno--I've heard Ed gratuitously badmouth smokers on his radio shows. Makes me like him far less than his colleagues.

I'll bet a few employees have armed themselves with carloads of Febreze.

Hate to say it, but this is exactly what I did to keep my job at the largest medical facility in Washington state...12 years ago.

Swedish Medical Center had the same policy when I worked for them, and I was smoking almost a pack a day then. Oh, I smoked on the way to work every day, but I did so with the window rolled down as far as possible and kept my left arm outside the car. Aired out the car with all windows down for the last 10 min of the commute, then Febrezed the car and myself, head to toe.

Two years later during my exit interview, my supervisor was actually shocked to learn that I was a smoker.

At any rate, this sort of thing is not at all new.

 

[ezmoose]

Looking into my crystal ball, I imagine (dread) the day when having the smell of Strawberry-Banana E-Juice on your person will get you fired!

I knew I should have replaced that leaky drip bottle; now I'm out of a job!

 

[harmony gardens]

Once again, please do NOT post Off-Topic items on this thread.

As one who has been working very hard to ensure that e-cigarettes and their usage remains legal throughout the US (as well as other countries), and as one who has been working to generate positive news stories on e-cigarettes, its very frustrating when those important topic threads are moved off the front page of E-cigarette News because others have posted threads that have nothing to do with e-cigarettes.

Those who want to discuss tobacco or smoking policies can do so at the many different tobacco websites and blogs.

As much as it drives me nuts, Bill does have a point here. We do need to focus on vaping,,,

I've thought a lot about what you're doing Bill, and at the end of the day, I am glad you're willing to do what you do for us.

Maybe the mods can make a special section outside or something for these types of posts???

BTW, Just so people know, Grant County is on the Wisconsin side of the Miss, so this is in Wisconsin, not Iowa.

 

[ezmoose]

No one can argue Bill has not been a valued proponent of Tobacco Harm Reduction in general and E Cigarettes in particular. I appreciate his efforts as much as anyone. That being said, I also value the work and perspectives of others. I can understand not flooding the only E Cigarette News Forum with articles that are not in the least bit connected with E Cigarettes. I also see the value of looking at the bigger picture. I can assure you the Antis are not narrowing their perspectives and will attack from whatever angle that gives them an advantage. So who should be the judge of what is or is not appropriate to post here? I believe that is the job of the moderator?

Rather than repeat what rothenbj eloquently said (and I agree with), here it is copied verbatim from the thread where he posted it.

Bill perhaps you could enlighten us as to how, considering the current anti-smoking/nicotine/tobacco environment continues to escalate their abstinence movement, you can differentiate topics that deal with e-cigarettes or other harm reduction products from what you consider non-relevant news?

I personally can't see it and I'm sure that sentiment is shared by many on this forum. If we could keep their aim at the original issue, smoking, I could totally agree with your stance, we should take focus on how these products can keep people from smoking. However that horse has left the barn long before any of us had an opportunity to try to lasso it.

They are turning nicotine into a disease and the primary disease that inflicts us to the point that we can't quit smoking. However, when you look at the reality, nicotine is only a fraction of the issue with smoking. You haven't been able to slow this stance down, others who have tried can't do it and unless we understand where they are headed, we have no knowledge of what we are up against.

Yes this "advertisement" for Pharma delivered nicotine starts out on the topic of smoking, but quickly moves to that deadly disease of nicotine that they'll cure with their abysmally unsuccessful array of NRT products. For myself personally, I would have had a pretty good chance of quitting smoking a quarter century ago had I had the opportunity of finding Swedish snus. It would have been more difficult without the habit tool of the e-cig, but certainly more successful than all my other attempts using their offerings.

I'm not trying to be obstinate, I'm just trying to understand. Plus, as my experience has shown and reading the comments on the other stop smoking advocates blogs, the cigarette forums don't want anything to do with what we're talking about. We are just another enemy in their mind, trying to somehow profit from their habit. We don't seem to have many friends or places we can vent and keep track of news.

Perhaps the answer is another category for news not directly related to E-cigs/Other harm reduction products. One final note, I'm not sure I even know what your stance is on some of these other products other than E-cigs.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...-nicotine-addiction-womens-health-crisis.html

 

[harmony gardens]

Thanks ezmoose. I come here to learn, and always do. I think all of us are a little banged up from these battles.

I always try to find common ground, but the amount of insanity I'm seeing just blows me away. I've never understood zero tolerance, but it's all around us.