Welcome to the website of Smoke Screens: The Truth About Tobacco. Smoke Screens is a book which has its basis after years of research – looking at the studies, what researchers have to say, the scientists involved in the anti-smoking movement, previous attacks on smoking, where the anti-smoking movement came from and diseases said to be caused by smoking. The book can be purchased as a paperback or eBook from the link or advert above.
Regardless of a person’s stance on smoking it is hard to deny that it has become one of the most widely discussed and prominent topics in our society, with more and more studies being used to pass ever-increasing restrictions. There are those who think smoking needs to be banned for health reasons, those who view banning it as a breach of rights and those who try to remain neutral. Even the neutral ones tend to have some viewpoint though. Irrespective of whether the ban is a good or bad thing to specific individuals, the simple truth is it is impossible to not see the constant stream of anti-smoking hype – to the point where many major film studios are putting anti-smoking messages at the start of their DVDs and there are attempts to get smoking banned from films, with Stanton Glantz criticising films such as Avatar for apparently glorifying cigarette smoking by saying that Sigourney Weaver’s character enjoying a cigarette is “like someone just put a bunch of plutonium in the water supply.” Many people are already aware of how old photos and postage stamps of iconic people, such as blues musician Robert Johnson and the Beatles, have had the cigarettes airbrushed out of their fingers or lips. There are now actions to prevent smokers becoming foster parents and ban smoking in privately owned homes. A parent being a smoker has been used as a reason to lose child custody in divorce hearings, elderly citizens have been evicted from their residential homes for being smokers and various places around the world now have outdoor smoking bans. In the USA it is becoming increasingly frequent for employers to refuse a job to someone because they smoke, even if they only smoke outside of working hours, and in the UK and USA there have been multiple calls to block smokers from receiving medical treatment under the NHS or Medicaid. Display bans are in effect in Canada, the UK has recently passed one and Australia is set to become the first country in the world to sell cigarettes in plain packages without any manufacturer branding.
These notions are just the latest tactics to encourage people to stop smoking, or to not start in the first place. Most members of the public would consider that banning smoking in homes to protect neighbours from secondhand smoke is a step too far. Smoke Screens is a comprehensive book that examines the data, science and researchers to see just how accurate and convincing the studies to implement these measures are – if such studies even exist to begin with. Further to this, the book contains quotes and excerpts from anti-smokers, physicians and doctors, and tell-tale information from the anti-smoking researchers themselves. Smoke Screens is not a book to advocate smoking, nor does it review pro-smoking science. Instead, it reviews the exact studies anti-smokers have used, to see whether the hysteria is justified, as well as looking at a number of other factors that are typically overlooked.
If you have any questions or comments regarding Smoke Screens or any information contained within it, feel free to contact me using the link at the top of this page.
Disclaimer: Whilst I have included a disclaimer in the book, I will include it here also: I do not, nor have ever, worked for, or received money from, tobacco companies or other bodies on behalf of the tobacco industry. This book was simply compiled in an attempt to shed some much-needed light and truth on the over-saturated propaganda of the anti-smoking movement.