20 June 2011

Unhealthful News 171 - What the U.S. government is doing for our health

Today in my twitter feed:

1. The FDA tobacco unit (@FDATobacco) sent out multiple tweets, seemingly once an hour, talking about how they are going to have an exciting announcement about new cigarette package rules tomorrow.  Maybe I am reading too much into 140 characters, but they seem downright giddy about it.  Whether you like the policy or not, there is something unseemly about the glee.

2. A story tweeted by @taz3cat reports that a man robbed a bank, demanding just $1, so that it would go to prison and thereby get health care.

3. Also, a reminder that thanks to the lack of effective stimulus effort, we are headed for a lost decade (high unemployment, people permanently lost from the world of productive pursuits, etc.), which will ensure that more people will need to rob banks to get health care.

But at least cigarette packages will be uglier (I assume).  Maybe that will solve everything.

That is all.  Sorry – I've had a very bad day.

1 comment:

  1. From what I found, the big announcement is going to be about new packaging rules, the graphic images on all cigarette packs (diseased mouth, a guy smoking the tracheotomy). This is not news. They've flirted with this idea before. So if that is the case, and I ever go back to cigarettes, I'll just go out and buy a cigarette case. I mean, I don't wouldn't want to look at those pictures. I want the nicotine. I suspect that if/when this does happen, the sale of cigarette case will rise more than smoking prevalence falls.

    Oh well, I'll just stick to electronic cigarettes, nasal snuff, and Swedish snus. I openly embrace harm reduction, haha.

    Sorry to hear you had a bad day, Dr. Carl. Hope you have a better tomorrow. Looking forward to tomorrow's post.

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