Wednesday
Dec152010
Forest petition - 36 hours left to sign
Wednesday, December 15, 2010 
OK, there are just two days left to sign the Forest petition which opposes proposals to ban, for example, tobacco displays, vending machines and smokeless tobacco products throughout the European Union.
You have until midnight on Thursday and we will then submit the petition to the European Commission in Brussels on Friday, which is the closing date for the public consultation.
As I write there are 1,511 names on the petition so let's have a final push to see if we can get the number up to 1,600.
Reader Comments (4)
I just can't believe that only 1500 people are concerned enough to sign. It's such a pity that there are so many smokers who are unaware of the opposition there is to the diktats spewing from TC.
I feel disappointed too, Joyce. I wonder why so few are willing to stand up for our liberty?
"1,511 names" + 1 ... I signed it.
"I feel disappointed too, Joyce. I wonder why so few are willing to stand up for our liberty?"
Firstly, most blogs don't get that many readers. 1500 is actually rather good.
Second, most smokers Know they do a Bad Thing, because they have been told as much for so long, and so often, it has become an inexcapable Truth.
Third, this is a Forest petition, and therefore Evil since it supports Big Tobacco (cf my second point)
Joyce, Rose W.
Do not think about it in that way! It is nearly Christmas - why do you think that the EU have put out this consultation at this time? But it is not the actual EU is it? It is Tobacco Control department of the EU, emanating from the department of th UN which was created by 'The International Convention for Tobacco Control'. There is a department in our own Health Department which is also not responsible to our Health Secretary but is responsible to the the UN.
The actual number of signatories to the petition is not very important since the numbers are in the hundreds (or even if they were in the thousands), since the TC dept of the EU will just bin it anyway.
Send in the petition, but do not send it to the tobacco control dept of the EU. Send it to our MEPs. Let them decide who in the EU to present it to. Tell our MEPs to multiple each vote by 100,000 or so since there are 20,000,000 smokers in this country, and if only there was time and a way to approach them, there would be millions of signatories. Use their tricks against them. This is how the global warming scare has been countered.
I don't think that it is true that people who are aware are unwilling. I think that the vast majority of smokers are not aware, and that the vast majority of the people are unaware. I think that there will come a time when the vast majority of the people WILL become aware at which point the shit will hit the fan. But don't expect politicians to become aware until AFTER the shit hits the fan!
Our job is simply to keep throwing little bits of shit at the fan and hope that the little bits hit the target - ie. the politicians! In the meantime. we notice that more and more non-smokers are beginning to see the light. Their own pubs are closing down, and they know why, and are beginning to complain. It is a slow process.