| | | Page 1, 2, 3, 4 | Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!!
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 718112
7/5/2009 3:24 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
Look on the bright side
A WINE glut has driven prices lower than bottled water as the industry faces an unprecedented meltdown and a fire-sale of unprofitable vineyards.
The price collapse and overplanting has forced Australia's biggest winemaker, Foster's, owner of prestigious labels such as Lindemans and Penfolds, to sell 31 vineyards across the country, including 16 in South Australia and nine in New South Wales.
Major wine retailer Dan Murphy's is currently selling cleanskins for $1.99 a bottle - cheaper than some bottled water - due to the oversupply crisis that has led to some vineyard owners leaving grapes to wither on the vine.
"We've seen growers who didn't bother picking their grapes this year," said wine industry critic and judge Stuart Gregor.
"There is a huge oversupply and we have more grapes than we are selling, and prices are being pushed down."
A Dan Murphy's spokeswoman said the company had offered $1.99 bottles for short periods several times due to the supply glut.
A crisis meeting by winemakers concluded that 20 per cent of vines needed to be phased out in the next three years to re-address the imbalance, said Winemakers Federation of Australia director Mitchell Taylor. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 633364
7/5/2009 3:42 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
Cigrets are going bye-bye. 
After working in the cancer ward for awhile, I can't say I'm sorry to see them go.
ban meat, ban obesity, ban nuclear energy, ban everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Being a vegetarian can cut your risk of cancer by a half, claim ...
Telegraph.co.uk - Richard Alleyne - ‎Jun 30, 2009‎
While common cancers such as prostate and breast cancer showed little difference, the overall cancer rates were different as were those for blood, ...
'Vegetarians get less cancer' NHS Choices
Vegetarians 'avoid more cancers' BBC News
New NE centre will pioneer cancer research Shields Gazette
Medical News Today - Examiner.com
all 198 news articles »Email this story |
| JADR
User ID: 424983
7/5/2009 3:44 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
Cigrets are going bye-bye.
After working in the cancer ward for awhile, I can't say I'm sorry to see them go.
ban meat, ban obesity, ban nuclear energy, ban everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Being a vegetarian can cut your risk of cancer by a half, claim ...
Telegraph.co.uk - Richard Alleyne - ‎Jun 30, 2009‎
While common cancers such as prostate and breast cancer showed little difference, the overall cancer rates were different as were those for blood, ...
'Vegetarians get less cancer' NHS Choices
Vegetarians 'avoid more cancers' BBC News
New NE centre will pioneer cancer research Shields Gazette
Medical News Today - Examiner.com
all 198 news articles »Email this story
Linda - wife of Faul McCartney still died from Cancer after decades eating healthy plant life!!
Dear sir, poor sir, brave sir: You are an experiment by the Creator of the Universe. You are the only creature in the entire Universe who has free will. You are the only one who has to figure out what to do next--and why. Everybody else is a robot, a machine. |
| My Take
User ID: 673609
7/5/2009 3:49 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
What I can't figure out is why tobacco?
The tobacco lobby used to be tremendously powerful. Where I live now the smoking Nazis are out in full force and prices seem to rise every week. There's a massive effort to terminate this unhealthy habit here.
While tobacco causes serious health problems among other ecological issues, another mood-altering substance does far more damage to society than tobacco.
Alcohol is related to about seventy-five percent of everything which plagues us. Divorce, child abuse, battering, theft, accidents, murder, suicide, mental illness, cancer, heart disease. On and on. Check the stats. The cost the States pay because of abuse of alcohol is staggering.
Yet alcohol is ubiquitous in our society and one very rarely reads more than a blip in MSM about the damage done to society by the minority who drink the majority of alcohol produced.
In spite of an education program to help people make wise choices about the use of alcohol many people still believe myths about its use and abuse.
Makes me wonder if somebody(s)didn't have a vendetta specifically toward the tobacco industry. Anyone got insight on that? |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 75950
7/5/2009 3:50 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
E-Cigarettes.......google it.
Hurry before they ban these too. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 718784
YES!!! I have been smoking one for three weeks...do not miss my cigs at all and I smoked for 35 years. I am making money selling them also. Best thing that has happened to me in a long time! |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 571173
7/5/2009 3:51 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
It's illegal to grow your own tobacco in Oz, even for personal use. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 374095
7/5/2009 3:53 PM | | _Storm_ 
User ID: 362931
7/5/2009 3:54 PM
 | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
They went up a buck a pack on the first of July in Florida. A lot of people decided to quit buying then. They haven't all quit smoking, but they quit buying their own. LOL |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 633364
7/5/2009 3:59 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
Cigrets are going bye-bye.
After working in the cancer ward for awhile, I can't say I'm sorry to see them go.
ban meat, ban obesity, ban nuclear energy, ban everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Being a vegetarian can cut your risk of cancer by a half, claim ...
Telegraph.co.uk - Richard Alleyne - ‎Jun 30, 2009‎
While common cancers such as prostate and breast cancer showed little difference, the overall cancer rates were different as were those for blood, ...
'Vegetarians get less cancer' NHS Choices
Vegetarians 'avoid more cancers' BBC News
New NE centre will pioneer cancer research Shields Gazette
Medical News Today - Examiner.com
all 198 news articles »Email this story
Linda - wife of Faul McCartney still died from Cancer after decades eating healthy plant life!!
that's only one case. plus the studies don't say veggies eradicate cancer, only that they halve it. since WAAAAAAAYYYYY more people eat meat than smoke, it's only logical to BAN MEAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 708096
7/5/2009 4:01 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
NEVER let them legalize pot.Decriminalize,yes.Hemp,yes.But NEVER support legalization.
This ^
I'd much rather not smoke Mary Jane with additives in it like Cigs. Legalization would honestly destroy it and chances are it would be distributed by the government. Fuck that. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 718824
I guess they would, however, they can't stop the peraon from growing this weed.
EVER |
| JADR
User ID: 424983
7/5/2009 4:05 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
Cigrets are going bye-bye.
After working in the cancer ward for awhile, I can't say I'm sorry to see them go.
ban meat, ban obesity, ban nuclear energy, ban everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Being a vegetarian can cut your risk of cancer by a half, claim ...
Telegraph.co.uk - Richard Alleyne - ‎Jun 30, 2009‎
While common cancers such as prostate and breast cancer showed little difference, the overall cancer rates were different as were those for blood, ...
'Vegetarians get less cancer' NHS Choices
Vegetarians 'avoid more cancers' BBC News
New NE centre will pioneer cancer research Shields Gazette
Medical News Today - Examiner.com
all 198 news articles »Email this story
Linda - wife of Faul McCartney still died from Cancer after decades eating healthy plant life!!
that's only one case. plus the studies don't say veggies eradicate cancer, only that they halve it. since WAAAAAAAYYYYY more people eat meat than smoke, it's only logical to BAN MEAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
People die from peanut allergies - lets also ban peanuts!
Dear sir, poor sir, brave sir: You are an experiment by the Creator of the Universe. You are the only creature in the entire Universe who has free will. You are the only one who has to figure out what to do next--and why. Everybody else is a robot, a machine. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 277233
7/5/2009 4:09 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
From the link:
The Victorian Government introduced laws last month that will ban tobacco displays in shops and ban smoking in cars with passengers under the age of 18.
Another reason to pull you over. Stealth criminalisation. |
| Aquarius 7
User ID: 715791
7/5/2009 4:10 PM
 | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
// ... problem is, what are they going to do when people stop smoking... and there is no revenue for them to live on???????????????????????????????????????? Quoting: JJackF108
.
And who or what are they going to blame when people stop smoking and cancer does not go away?
.
“ Put on the whole armor of God … for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the wickedness of the evil spirits in the heavens. …” ~ from Ephesians 6:11-12 |
| My Take
User ID: 673609
7/5/2009 4:11 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
Well, I'm still asking, any ideas on why tobacco specifically when, as all have noted here, there are many harmful things out there, if used incorrectly. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 648447
7/5/2009 4:15 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
By Erica Werner, Associated Press 4/2009
WASHINGTON — Smoking takes years off your life, and adds dollars to the cost of health care.
Supporters of the FDA bill cited figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that smokers cost the country $96 billion a year in direct health care costs, and an additional $97 billion a year in lost productivity.
A White House statement supporting the bill, which awaits action in the Senate, echoed the argument by contending that tobacco use "accounts for over a $100 billion annually in financial costs to the economy." |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 648447
7/5/2009 4:17 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
You pack-a-day smokers could save BIG if you quit..
365 days @ $20/day = $7,300 savings to you!
 |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 714444
7/5/2009 4:22 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
Should charge $50 a pack to get rid of the disgusting shit. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 633364
7/5/2009 4:27 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
Should charge $50 a pack to get rid of the disgusting shit. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 714444
let's ban cars too, superstar. there 200 million vehicles in n. america spewing 1.6 TRILLION tons of crap into the air annually. this problem certainly won't be going away anytime soon as china and india have a growing demand for vehicles, with over 100 million needed in china alone immediately. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 709212
7/5/2009 4:31 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
The Uk is getin as bad that why go day trip over to Alicante and buy 3000 hahaha. Plus it a nice day trip and saves me a fortune |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 714444
7/5/2009 4:36 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
Should charge $50 a pack to get rid of the disgusting shit.
let's ban cars too, superstar. there 200 million vehicles in n. america spewing 1.6 TRILLION tons of crap into the air annually. this problem certainly won't be going away anytime soon as china and india have a growing demand for vehicles, with over 100 million needed in china alone immediately. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 633364
Unless you have your mouth around a tailpipe on a daily basis, it's apples and oranges, idiot. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 633364
7/5/2009 4:37 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
Suicide Warnings for 2 Anti-Smoking Drugs Sign in to GARDINER HARRIS and DUFF WILSON
Published: July 1, 2009
WASHINGTON — Federal drug regulators warned Wednesday that patients taking two popular drugs to stop smoking should be watched closely for signs of serious mental illness, as reports mount of suicides among the drugs’ users.
But officials emphasized that fear should not stop patients from taking the smoking-cessation medicines, Chantix, made by Pfizer, and Zyban, made by GlaxoSmithKline, which also sells it under the brand name Wellbutrin, for depression.
“Stopping smoking is a goal we should all be working towards,” said Dr. Curtis J. Rosebraugh, director of a drug evaluation office at the Food and Drug Administration. “We don’t want to scare people off from trying a medication that could help them achieve this goal. You should just be careful.”
Pfizer will add a so-called black box warning — the F.D.A.’s most serious caution — to the packaging information for Chantix.
The Pfizer drug, introduced in 2006, has about 90 percent of the market for prescription smoking-cessation drugs, according to IMS Health, a health care information company. Even so, Chantix sales — $846 million in 2008 — had been less than Pfizer had hoped because of previous warnings of its side effects.
Glaxo will expand its existing black box warning on Wellbutrin, citing suicidal thoughts by patients who use it for depression, to include Zyban, which has had only modest sales in the smoking cessation market.
Both companies will also be required to conduct clinical trials to assess the mental health risks associated with the drugs’ uses. Pfizer is already enrolling schizophrenia patients in a trial.
Because smokers and people trying to quit are statistically more likely to be depressed and suicidal, officials for both companies said it was difficult to identify the specific impact of the drugs on those risks. “Nicotine withdrawal itself can be very difficult for people to endure,” Dr. Steve Romano, a Pfizer vice president, said Wednesday.
Analysts said the F.D.A. action would have little effect on sales because of previous indications of the drugs’ psychiatric risks.
“I think the market and physicians have already been sensitized to this,” said Catherine J. Arnold, an analyst for Credit Suisse.
“I’m not panicking,” said Jami Rubin, an analyst for Goldman Sachs, “Sales are already down a lot. It is and will remain a small niche product.”
Chantix had already experienced a slight sales decline last year from the $883 million achieved in 2007. And this year’s first-quarter sales of $177 million were 36 percent below the corresponding period last year.
Ms. Arnold predicted that sales would probably continue falling to around $740 million for all of 2009, but that demand for smoking-cessation treatments would enable it to grow modestly after that — to perhaps half of the $2 billion in annual sales Pfizer had originally hoped for the drug.
European officials first alerted the F.D.A. in 2007 to problems associated with Chantix. In September of that year, Jeffrey Carter Albrecht, a keyboard player from the pop-music group Edie Brickell and New Bohemians, was killed by a neighbor who had complained that Mr. Albrecht was banging on his door, ranting. Mr. Albrecht’s girlfriend blamed Chantix, which she said had made him hostile.
The widely publicized event led to a cascade of similar reports and scrutiny by F.D.A. safety officials, who have now received 98 reports of suicides and 188 reports of suicide attempts among those taking Chantix.
As officials looked more closely, they found to their surprise that Zyban has similar associated risks. The agency received 14 reports of suicides and 17 reports of suicide attempts among those taking Zyban.
No one knows why the drugs are associated with mental problems. In some cases, patients could be experiencing nicotine withdrawal, but some of the reports involved patients who had yet to stop smoking. And many of the events happened just as patients began or stopped therapy, officials said.
“If this is nicotine withdrawal, it really doesn’t matter,” said Dr. Robert Temple, an F.D.A. official. “You need to pay attention to them.”
The agency’s action requires the drugs’ makers to mention the risk of suicide in advertising, and it prevents the companies from using “reminder” ads, during which consumers are encouraged to talk to their doctors about a health issue but the product’s name is not mentioned.
[link to www.nytimes.com] |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 718874
7/5/2009 4:38 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
By Erica Werner, Associated Press 4/2009
WASHINGTON — Smoking takes years off your life, and adds dollars to the cost of health care.
Supporters of the FDA bill cited figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that smokers cost the country $96 billion a year in direct health care costs, and an additional $97 billion a year in lost productivity.
A White House statement supporting the bill, which awaits action in the Senate, echoed the argument by contending that tobacco use "accounts for over a $100 billion annually in financial costs to the economy." Quoting: Anonymous Coward 648447
LMAO...and the methodology behind this data gathering is....??
Research it as well as the hidden research data that cig smokes have never, not once caused lung cancer in any study.
Someone started a good thread on this topic about six months ago.
Oh, and do you know what will stop a cytokine storm?
Nicotine.
.
. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 717787
7/5/2009 4:38 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
I NOW PAY $16.00 PER CARTON...I DO EXPECT AN ADJUSTMENT SOON, AS THE US FED, WILL LEAN ON THE INDIAN'S...TO CHARGE MORE, OR LOOSE THEIR RESERVATION'S............!!!!!!!!!!! Quoting: JJackF108 |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 633364
7/5/2009 4:46 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
Should charge $50 a pack to get rid of the disgusting shit.
let's ban cars too, superstar. there 200 million vehicles in n. america spewing 1.6 TRILLION tons of crap into the air annually. this problem certainly won't be going away anytime soon as china and india have a growing demand for vehicles, with over 100 million needed in china alone immediately.
Unless you have your mouth around a tailpipe on a daily basis, it's apples and oranges, idiot. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 714444
i was hinting towards the second-hand car smoke i'm inhaling and cannot escape
Smog
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Smog (disambiguation).
Smog in New York City as viewed from the World Trade Center in 1988
German road sign, Verkehrsverbot bei Smog (No traffic allowed due to smog)Smog is a kind of air pollution; the word "smog" is a portmanteau of smoke and fog. Classic smog results from large amounts of coal burning in an area caused by a mixture of smoke and sulfur dioxide. Modern smog does not usually come from coal but from vehicular and industrial emissions that are acted on in the atmosphere by sunlight to form secondary pollutants that also combine with the primary emissions to form photochemical smog.
Health effects
Highland Park Optimist Club wearing smog-gas masks at banquet, Los Angeles, circa 1954Smog is a problem in a number of cities and continues to harm human health.[2] Ground-level ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide are especially harmful for senior citizens, children, and people with heart and lung conditions such as emphysema, bronchitis, and asthma[3]. It can inflame breathing passages, decreasing the lungs' working capacity, and causing shortness of breath, pain when inhaling deeply, wheezing, and coughing. It can cause eye and nose irritation and it dries out the protective membranes of the nose and throat and interferes with the body's ability to fight infection, increasing susceptibility to illness. Hospital admissions and respiratory deaths often increase during periods when ozone levels are high [4].
The U.S. EPA has developed an Air Quality index to help explain air pollution levels to the general public. 8 hour average ozone concentrations of 85 to 104 ppbv are described as "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups", 105 ppbv to 124 ppbv as "unhealthy" and 125 ppb to 404 ppb as "very unhealthy" [1]. The "very unhealthy" range for some other pollutants are: 355 μg m-3 - 424 μg m-3 for PM10; 15.5 ppm - 30.4ppm for CO and 0.65 ppm - 1.24 ppm for NO2[2]
The Ontario Medical Association announced that smog is responsible for an estimated 9,500 premature deaths in the province each year.[5]
[edit] Areas affected
Beijing air on a day after rain (left) and a smoggy day (right)Smog can form in almost any climate where industries or cities release large amounts of air pollution, such as smoke or gases. However, it is worse during periods of warmer, sunnier weather when the upper air is warm enough to inhibit vertical circulation. It is especially prevalent in geologic basins encircled by hills or mountains. It often stays for an extended period of time over densely populated cities or urban areas, such as London, Atlanta, Houston, Phoenix, New York, Cairo, Los Angeles, São Paulo, Mexico City, Santiago of Chile, Toronto, Athens, Beijing, Hong Kong, Seoul, the Randstad or Ruhr Area and can build up to dangerous levels.
[edit] London
Victorian London was notorious for its thick smogs, or "pea-soupers", a fact that is often recreated to add an air of mystery to a period costume dramaIn 1306, concerns over air pollution were sufficient for Edward I to (briefly) ban coal fires in London.[6] In 1661, John Evelyn's Fumifugium suggested burning fragrant wood instead of mineral coal, which he believed would reduce coughing. The Ballad of Gresham College the same year describes how the smoke "does our lungs and spirits choke, Our hanging spoil, and rust our iron."
Severe episodes of smog continued in the 19th and 20th centuries and were nicknamed "pea-soupers". The Great Smog of 1952 darkened the streets of London and killed approximately 4,000 people in the short time of 4 days (a further 8,000 died from its effects in the following weeks and months). Initially a flu epidemic was blamed for the loss of life. In 1956 the Clean Air Act introduced smokeless zones in the capital. Consequently, reduced sulfur dioxide levels made the intense and persistent London smog a thing of the past. It was after this the great clean-up of London began and buildings recovered their original stone façades which, during two centuries, had gradually blackened. Smog caused by traffic pollution, however, does occur in modern London.
[edit] Mexico City
Due to its location in a highland "bowl", cold air sinks down onto the urban area of Mexico City, trapping industrial and vehicle pollution underneath, and turning it into the most infamous smog-plagued city of Latin America. Within one generation, the city has changed from being known for some of the cleanest air of the world into one with some of the worst pollution, with pollutants like nitrogen dioxide being double or even triple international standards.[7]
[edit] Tehran
In December 2005, schools and public offices had to close in Tehran, Iran and 1600 people were taken to hospital, in a severe smog blamed largely on unfiltered car exhaust.[8]
[edit] United States
A NASA astronaut photograph of a smog layer over central New York.
Counties in the United States where one or more National Ambient Air Quality Standards are not met, as of June 2007.The United States Environmental Protection Agency has designated over 300 U.S. counties to be non-attainment areas for one or more pollutants tracked as part of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.[9] These areas are largely clustered around large metropolitan areas, with the largest contiguous non-attainment zones in California and the Northeast. Various U.S. and Canadian government agencies collaborate to produce real-time air quality maps and forecasts.[10]
[edit] Los Angeles
Being in a low basin surrounded by mountains, Los Angeles is notorious for its smog. The millions of vehicles in the city due to lack of sufficient public transportation and/or to the city's residents' preference for private transportation, plus the added effects of the Los Angeles/Long Beach port complex contribute to further air pollution in the city. While strict regulations by the Californian government have reduced the number of Stage 1 smog alerts from several hundred annually to just a few annually, Los Angeles' pollution level still exceeds health standards and is a pressing issue for the more than 15 million people who live there.
[edit] Major incidents in the US
1948, October 30-31, Donora, PA: 20 died, 600 hospitalized, thousands more stricken. Lawsuits were not settled until 1951.[11]
1953, November, New York: Smog kills between 170 and 260 people.[11]
1954, October, Los Angeles: heavy smog shuts down schools and industry for most of the month.[11]
1963, New York: blamed for 200 deaths [12]
1966, New York: blamed for 169 deaths [12]
[edit] Southeast Asia
See also: Asian brown cloud
Singapore's Downtown Core on 7 October 2006, when it was affected by forest fires in Sumatra, IndonesiaSmog is a regular problem in Southeast Asia caused by land and forest fires in Indonesia, especially Sumatra and Kalimantan, although the less political term haze is preferred in describing the problem. Farmers and plantation owners are usually responsible for the fires, which they use to clear tracts of land for further plantings. Those fires mainly affect Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, and occasionally Guam and Saipan[3] [4] The economic losses of the fires in 1997 have been estimated at more than US$9 billion.[13] This includes damages in agriculture production, destruction of forest lands, health, transportation, tourism, and other economic endeavours. Not included are social, environmental, and psychological problems and long-term health effects. The latest bout of haze to occur in Malaysia, Singapore and the Malacca Straits is in October 2006, and was caused by smoke from fires in Indonesia being blown across the Straits of Malacca by south-westerly winds.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) reacted and signed Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, formed a Regional Haze Action Plan (RHAP) and established a co-ordination and support unit (CSU). RHAP, with the help of Canada, established a monitoring and warning system for forest/vegetation fires and implemented a Fire Danger Rating System (FDRS). The Malaysian Meteorological Service (MMS) [5] has issued a daily rating since September 2003. The Indonesians have been ineffective at enforcing legal policies on errant farmers.
[edit] Natural causes
An erupting volcano can also emit high levels of sulfur dioxide, creating volcanic smog, or vog.
[edit] Pollution index
Smog in São PauloThe severity of smog is often measured using automated optical instruments such as Nephelometers, as haze is associated with visibility and traffic control in ports. Haze however can also be an indication of poor air quality though this is often better reflected using accurate purpose built air indexes such as the American Air Quality Index, the Malaysian API (Air Pollution Index) and the Singaporean Pollutant Standards Index.
In hazy conditions, it is likely that the index will report the suspended particulate level. The disclosure of the responsible pollutant is mandated in some jurisdictions.
The American AQI is divided into six color coded categories. Technically AQI runs only from 0 to 500. The 301 to 500 range is categorised as hazardous and colored maroon. [6]
The Malaysian API does not have a capped value; hence its most hazardous readings can go above 500. Above 500, a state of emergency is declared in the affected area. Usually, this means that non-essential government services are suspended, and all ports in the affected area are closed. There may also be prohibitions on private sector commercial and industrial activities in the affected area excluding the food sector. So far, state of emergency rulings due to hazardous API levels were applied to the Malaysian towns of Port Klang, Kuala Selangor and the state of Sarawak during the 2005 Malaysian haze and the 1997 Southeast Asian haze. |
| rocky
User ID: 675648
7/5/2009 4:56 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
nicotene protects the lungs from the aerial chemicals
i don't condone smoking lesser of two evils |
| UK
User ID: 718899
7/5/2009 5:13 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
What's up with the recent governmental campaigns worldwide to end smoking.
This can't be good. Quoting: East 718240
some people think that smoking puts a protective coat on the lungs which protects against biological agents and flu.... |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 718893
7/5/2009 5:15 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
E-Cigarettes.......google it.
Hurry before they ban these too.
YES!!! I have been smoking one for three weeks...do not miss my cigs at all and I smoked for 35 years. I am making money selling them also. Best thing that has happened to me in a long time! Quoting: Anonymous Coward 75950 |
| Sickandtired
User ID: 493500
7/5/2009 5:17 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
NEVER let them legalize pot.Decriminalize,yes.Hemp,yes.But NEVER support legalization. Quoting: bubba 704316
Why, what is the difference between alcohol and pot? Oh yeah, alcohol makes people violent. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 342885
7/5/2009 5:20 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
just to FYI you guys...you can't compare this to the US...Australians have a completely different monetary system; for example the average hourly wage for a waitress is 12 an hour ( no tips) etc they have higher pay scale than we do... |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 709212
7/5/2009 5:21 PM | | Re: Holy shit if you live in Australia you will pay $20 for a pack of smokes!! | Quote |
I am goin move to Australia - I bound to give up smokin with those prices |
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