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Author: Yaël Ossowski

Tekan Risiko Kesehatan hingga 95%, Tembakau Alternatif Masih Sering Jadi Misinformasi

merokok di Indonesia sudah menyentuh 65 juta jiwa, bahkan menjadi salah satu yang tertinggi di dunia. Padahal aktivitas merokok berkorelasi dengan berbagai macam penyakit seperti kanker paru-paru, kanker kerongkongan, penyakit jantung koroner, hingga stroke.

Ketua Masyarakat Sadar Risiko Indonesia (Masindo) Dimas Syailendra Ranadireksa berpendapat, kampanye negatif tentang produk tembakau alternatif di Indonesia, perlu ditekan. Yaitu dengan menghadirkan informasi yang akurat dan kredibel terkait manfaat produk alternatif.

“Kampanye negatif hanya akan semakin menjauhkan perokok dewasa Indonesia dari produk tembakau alternatif yang bisa menjadi solusi komplementer menekan prevalensi merokok di negara ini,” ujar Dimas dalam keterangannya.

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Perlu informasi akurat terkait manfaat tembakau alternatif

Ketua Masyarakat Sadar Risiko Indonesia (Masindo) Dimas Syailendra Ranadireksa berpendapat bahwa kampanye negatif terhadap produk tembakau alternatif, terutama di Indonesia, perlu ditekan dengan menghadirkan informasi yang akurat dan kredibel terkait manfaat produk alternatif itu.

Prevalensi merokok di Indonesia sudah menyentuh 65 juta jiwa, salah satu yang tertinggi di dunia. Kampanye negatif hanya akan semakin menjauhkan perokok dewasa Indonesia dari produk tembakau alternatif yang bisa menjadi solusi komplementer menekan prevalensi merokok di negara ini, ujar Dimas dikutip dari siaran persnya, Rabu.

Ia melanjutkan aktivitas merokok berkorelasi dengan berbagai macam penyakit seperti kanker paru-paru, kanker kerongkongan, penyakit jantung koroner, hingga stroke. Dengan fakta bahwa produk tembakau alternatif memiliki risiko yang lebih rendah dibandingkan rokok, Dimas berharap perokok dewasa bisa beralih ke produk tersebut demi meringankan masalah kesehatan.

Produk tembakau alternatif memiliki manfaat yang besar demi mendorong perbaikan kesehatan publik. Pemerintah harus aktif dalam menekan kampanye negatif terhadap produk tembakau alternatif dengan menggandeng dan melibatkan seluruh pemangku kepentingan terkait demi terciptanya peralihan perokok dewasa ke produk yang lebih rendah risiko ini, kata Dimas.

Sebelumnya, Wakil Direktur the Consumer Choice Center, lembaga internasional perlindungan konsumen yang berpusat di Washington DC Amerika Serikat, Yael Ossowski mengatakan, kampanye negatif terhadap keberadaan produk tembakau alternatif masif digaungkan kepada publik demi menutupi fakta bahwa produk itu memiliki risiko yang lebih rendah daripada rokok konvensional.

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Kampanye Negatif Dapat Meningkatkan Masalah Kesehatan Publik

Keinginan perokok dewasa untuk beralih ke produk tembakau alternatif yang memiliki risiko lebih rendah dibanding rokok, rupanya masih terganjal oleh sejumlah hal. Salah satunya dikarenakan masih simpang siurnya informasi mengenai produk tembakau alternatif.

Wakil Direktur the Consumer Choice Center, lembaga internasional perlindungan konsumen yang berpusat di Washington DC Amerika Serikat Yael Ossowski mengatakan, simpang siurnya informasi mengenai produk tembakau alternatif tersebut lantaran masih ada kampanye yang tidak benar yang dilakukan oleh pihak-pihak tertentu yang tidak menginginkan orang untuk beralih ke produk yang lebih rendah risiko.

Contohnya, kampanye informasi publik yang menyebarkan misinformasi atas produk tembakau alternatif, pengenaan pajak tinggi, pembatasan hingga larangan penggunaannya. Intinya agar mencegah perokok dewasa memiliki akses ke produk tembakau alternatif.

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Blocking of cigarette alternatives seen behind spike in US smoking rate

Cigarette smoking in the United States went up for the first time in two decades amid the persistent public health lobby against less harmful alternatives such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, according to an international consumer advocacy group.

“Nothing has been more egregious and harmful in our current age than the public health lobby’s persistent denialism of the harm reduction value of nicotine vaping products and other alternatives to cigarettes,” Consumer Choice Center (CCC) deputy director Yaël Ossowski said in a blog post on the organization’s website.

The 2020 Cigarette Report of the Federal Trade Commission showed that cigarette sales in the United States reached the highest in two decades. The total number of cigarettes sold by major manufacturers rose 0.4 percent in 2020 to 203.7 billion units from 2019. It represented the first increase in cigarette sales in 20 years.

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Group censures public lobby vs.vaping for return of smoking in US

A consumer group blamed public health lobby against vaping and aversion to innovation in the market for contributing to the return of smoking in the United States, with cigarette sales picking up in 2020 for the first time in two decades.

“If we want to reclaim a true public health victory and help smokers quit to give them long and fruitful lives, it is time to cast aside this aversion to the innovations of the market. The future health of our nation depends on it,” the Washington D.C.-based Consumer Choice Center said in its website.

“Smoking is up for the first time in a generation. The public health lobby is to blame,” said the CCC, a consumer advocacy group supporting lifestyle freedom, innovation, privacy, science and consumer choice. It focuses on main policy areas such as digital, mobility, lifestyle and consumer goods and health and science.

Top publications highlighted the “comeback” of cigarettes among the bourgeois hipster crowd in Brooklyn, New York amid the misconception that switching back to cigarettes would be healthier than vaping, according to CCC.

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Smoking bounces back in the US as public health groups block less harmful alternatives

An international consumer advocacy group has warned about the rising smoking prevalence in the United States, amid aversion to innovation and the persistent public health campaigns against vaping and other less harmful alternatives to cigarettes.

“Smoking is up for the first time in a generation. The public health lobby is to blame,” the Washington D.C.-based Consumer Choice Center (CCC) announced on its website.

CCC is a consumer advocacy group supporting lifestyle freedom, innovation, privacy, science and consumer choice. It focuses on main policy areas such as digital, mobility, lifestyle and consumer goods and health and science.

Yaël Ossowski, deputy director of CCC, cited figures from the 2020 Cigarette Report of the Federal Trade Commission showing that Americans bought more cigarettes in 2020 than they have in more than a generation.

“The total number of cigarettes reported sold by the major manufacturers, 203.7 billion units in 2020, increased by 0.8 billion units (0.4 percent) from 2019, the first increase in cigarettes sold in 20 years,” according to the report.

Read the full article here

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Potentials for Bitcoin in State Government

Our country is dealing with some of the highest inflation in a generation while COVID jitters and government restrictions shake the economy. But state and local policymakers are not powerless to protect their residents. There is always Bitcoin.

In a time of inflation, ballooning government debts, and broader financial uncertainty, a Bitcoin-first policy would be a welcome message.

The main advantage of Bitcoin, apart from being an alternative to the monetary manipulation of Washington, is that it is digital cash based on a decentralized and transparent public ledger that must be verified by thousands of independent nodes, or computers. It is forever limited to just 21 million units, and it can be sent to anyone around the world who has a wallet address. 

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is one of the most prominent Bitcoin-loving public officials. He has pledged to make Miami a “Bitcoin City” and already receives 100 percent of his paycheck in Bitcoin. He has joined forces with Scott Conger, mayor of Jackson, Tenn., in finding an option to pay city workers in Bitcoin as well.

For his part, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has made the boldest move of all, including cryptocurrency payment of state fees as a multi-department pilot project in his 2022 budget.

If East Coast mayors and governors can hop on the Bitcoin train, why not everywhere?

State lawmakers could pass legislation allowing treasurers to hold Bitcoin on the state’s balance sheet. That authorization could also allow local governments to follow suit. 

Lawmakers could also welcome Bitcoin mining, as Texas has already done. Mining is the process of unlocking new blocks of Bitcoin by using computing hash power to solve complex algorithms. Some states already provide a sales tax exemption for data centers. That exemption could be broadened to also benefit Bitcoin miners.

As Jesse Colzani has pointed out, rural areas of the world with low energy costs have the biggest economic advantage in Bitcoin mining. Mining computers only need a reliable internet connection, a cool environment, and access to stable power. Welcoming miners would increase investment in facilities, jobs, and help return dividends to local and state coffers. By making it easier for price and energy-conscious Bitcoin miners to relocate, it could help spur a new energy revolution that would dwarf that of hydroelectricity or natural gas.

At present, some states offer financial service companies licenses via the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System & Registry. For Bitcoin specifically, this means registered brokers, or “money transmitters”, can apply for licenses in multiple states that are honored in others. That is a great first step, but it should be even easier.

By offering full reciprocity of money transmitter licenses, any state could ensure that Bitcoin firms could set up shop without hassle in a big city or small town alike. That would be similar to the reciprocity of occupational licenses, which reduce barriers to work and make it easier for qualified individuals to work anywhere. Let’s do the same for the money of the future.

The quick-moving technology of the crypto space is numbing at times, but the role of government is to set clear and easy guidelines for entrepreneurs and citizens.

By opening itself to Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency space, states like Texas, North Carolina, or Idaho would have an advantage over the highly regulated financial markets based in New York or California. Low taxes coupled with a light-touch regulatory environment and openness to entrepreneurship would be key to this evolution.

While there are vast philosophical questions invoked by the role of digital assets, the advantage of giving more choice to state residents cannot be overstated. It is a real alternative.

By instituting pilot projects to let citizens offer bitcoin as payment for state fees or keeping it on state balance sheets, giving crypto options for state employees, and easing the regulatory burdens faced by crypto entrepreneurs, states have the opportunity to ensure their residents are ready for the digital age, to the moon and beyond.

Originally published here

Nancy Mace: The South Carolina Republican Who Could Deliver Legal Cannabis

By Yaël Ossowski

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (left) with former SC Governor and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley (right)

During the Democratic presidential candidates during the 2020 election primary, the topic of legalizing cannabis federally was explicitly endorsed by virtually every candidate in the race, save Joe Biden.

Now that the Democrats have majority control of the House and Senate, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has pledged to end cannabis prohibition in the United States with his own bill, and some of his House colleagues have said the same.

However, the legislator who may actually deliver on serious cannabis reform won’t be a major Senate figure or even a Democratic heavyweight in either chamber. It may rest on the shoulders of one first-term Republican Congresswoman from South Carolina’s Lowcountry.

A BOLD REPUBLICAN

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, who was propelled “from Waffle House to the US House”, has already proven to be a unique lawmaker among the elite cadre of elected representatives in the nation’s capital.

As a single mother of two children and the first woman to graduate from the Citadel, a military academy, Mace has followed a more independent streak in her short tenure thus far in DC.

As the first Republican woman from South Carolina elected to Congress, she has already made her mark as a supporter of both LGBT and reproductive rights, a skeptic of US military interventions abroad, and was forthright in condemning President Donald Trump after the events of January 6.

Now, she has made waves among House colleagues and cannabis reform advocates for the States Reform Act, one of the most inspiring bills to legalize and regulate cannabis.

STATES REFORM ACT

The bill would amend the Controlled Substances Act to reschedule cannabis, regulate it like alcohol, would offer judicial reforms to nonviolent offenders charged with marijuana crimes, empower entrepreneurs to enter the cannabis space, and give powers to the states to effectively decide what the regulations on cannabis should be. It would also apply an excise tax of just 3%, the lowest of any cannabis bill that has been introduced into Congress.

This means Mace’s law both respects federalism by giving the ultimate say to states while recognizing the federal prohibition as no longer just. Added to that, it would immediately cease all federal prosecutions and cases for nonviolent defendants in cannabis cases, would remove these charges from nonviolent offenders who were convicted, and would use the revenue to support law enforcement and community investment.

With these elements of federalism, social justice, and entrepreneurship, this bill satisfies political advocates from both the left and the right, and could actually pave the way for a real solution to cannabis prohibition in our country.

The Reason Foundation has a great breakdown of the bill for those interested.

GATHERING MOMENTUM

Even though 68% of the country supports legalizing cannabis in a Gallup poll or as high as 91% from a Pew poll, the highest recorded number, there are still many obstacles. As one can imagine, Mace’s freshman GOP status won’t be enough to draw in significant Democratic support from her House colleagues to bring this to a vote, but there have been a great number of other key endorsements.

In January, Amazon — the second-largest company in the country — formally endorsed Mace’s bill. They are most concerned about how drug testing regulations are hampering their ability to hire workers.

The Cannabis Freedom Alliance, made up of advocacy organizations pushing for market-friendly cannabis reforms, (including the Consumer Choice Center), has publicly supported the bill. That also includes the justice advocacy organization of the Weldon Project and the Law Enforcement Action Partnership.

The Consumer Choice Center supports this bill because we believe it offers the most achievable and concrete changes that would introduce smart cannabis policy at the federal level, eliminating the black market, restoring justice, and giving the incentive for creative entrepreneurs to enter the marketplace. That would be a huge benefit to consumers.

When asked, some Democrats have been receptive to the bill, and they have committed to holding hearings, but thus far most of the momentum has been among advocates and in the media.

It was enough to also get the congresswoman recognized on Real Time with Bill Maher, not necessarily the most hospitable television program for Republicans. Maher, a long-time foe of cannabis prohibition, made the point that Democrats have dragged their feet on this issue, and it was time that the GOP would “steal this issue from the Democrats”.

All of that said, this is far from the most popular political issue in Mace’s home state of South Carolina. The head of the SC GOP has blasted Mace’s bill and any attempt to legalize recreational or even medical cannabis. A Republican primarily challenger, Katie Arrington, who lost the seat to Democrat Joe Cunningham in 2018, has already put together a video criticizing Mace’s stance on cannabis. It would seem this issue is sparking more controversy than others in South Carolina Republican politics.

Former Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, also a former SC congressman, for his part, has written that the SC GOP is “ignoring the will” of voters in continuing to oppose medical cannabis in the Palmetto State.

However it falls, Congresswoman Nancy Mace has given something that all Americans could potentially benefit from. Her States Reform Act, if it can withstand the partisan dance in the nation’s capital, has some of the most positive reforms on cannabis that we have seen in over a decade.

That is something to celebrate, but it is only the beginning if we want to see true cannabis reform in our country.

Yaël Ossowski is deputy director at the Consumer Choice Center.

genetic literacy project

‘One-size-fits-all pesticide policy hurts farmers and doesn’t help pollinators’ — Why Boulder, Colorado ignores science in push to ban neonicotinoids

It is commonly cited within the beekeeping community that pesticides called neonics can negatively impact honeybees.

An oft-invoked visualization shows a bee landing on a sunflower grown from seeds coated in neonics, triggering its neuroreceptors and leading it to collect nectar in an inefficient and bizarre pattern.

While this is harmful to the foraging bees that are at the end of their lifecycle, this doesn’t mean that this is leading to colony collapse disorder or massive deaths of bees.

What’s more, recent evidence has proven that pesticides such as neonics (short for neonicotinoids) and sulfoxaflor haven’t been as responsible for declines in bee populations after all.

While we understand the urge to protect and promote pollinators such as honeybees in Colorado, Boulder County needs to allow farmers the choice of pesticides…. Banning neonics means that sugar beet farmers must use the pesticide Counter, which is applied at 9.8 pounds per acre compared to 24 grams per acre for neonics.

That’s why, whether at the local level or state level, lawmakers must keep in mind that pesticides are vital for farmers and turn to science, not politics, when it comes to crafting smart policy.

Originally published here

Boulder County needs to allow for choice in pesticides for farmers

In 2014, after Broomfield County had just approved licenses to keep honeybees, I bought my first two hives off of a beekeeper in Evergreen who was tired of the bears getting into them every winter. Then I attended my first meeting of the Boulder County beekeepers and learned about colony collapse disorder and the environmental stresses that lead to honeybee colonies failing.

Now, in 2021, these sentiments are being echoed to justify a ban on neonics in Boulder County, which we believe would be counterproductive to Colorado and demonstrates that one size fits all is never a good policy.

It is commonly cited within the beekeeping community that pesticides called neonics can negatively impact honeybees. An oft-invoked visualization shows a bee landing on a sunflower grown from seeds coated in neonics, triggering its neuroreceptors and leading it to collect nectar in an inefficient and bizarre pattern. While this is harmful to the foraging bees that are at the end of their lifecycle, this doesn’t mean that this is leading to colony collapse disorder or massive deaths of bees.

What’s more, recent evidence has proven that pesticides such as neonics (short for neonicotinoids) and sulfoxaflor haven’t been as responsible for declines in bee populations after all.

All beekeepers are aware of varroa mites, now present in all American honeybee colonies since first detected in the U.S. in 1987. The original research on these parasites in the 1960s hypothesized that they lived off the blood of honeybees, but a groundbreaking study published in 2019 found that this theory was false. These mites have a “voracious appetite for a honeybee organ called the fat body, which serves many of the same vital functions carried out by the human liver.”

These mites put a lot of stress on honeybee colonies and make it very hard for them to survive over the winter. While there is debate amongst the beekeeping community on whether it is right to treat honeybees for mites, most beekeepers treat their colonies at least once a year with some sort of pesticide that is safe for the bees but kills off a lot of mites. A popular method is to vaporize oxalic acid inside the hive. In this instance, pesticides assist beekeepers with preventing colony collapse disorder, further debunking the claim.

While we understand the urge to protect and promote pollinators such as honeybees in Colorado, Boulder County needs to allow farmers the choice of pesticides. Sugar beets have been grown in Colorado since 1869, as it is an ideal climate and soil for growing them. Sugar was processed in mills across our state for over a hundred years. Banning neonics means that sugar beet farmers must use the pesticide Counter, which is applied at 9.8 pounds per acre compared to 24 grams per acre for neonics.

This puts them at greater risk of exposure to pesticides and the kicker to all this is that sugar beets don’t even have a flower. This one size fits all policy isn’t about saving the bees but rather harms the local small business owners that grow Colorado sugar beets and a host of other crops.

That’s why, whether at the local level or state level, lawmakers must keep in mind that pesticides are vital for farmers and turn to science, not politics, when it comes to crafting smart policy.

Originally published here

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