Tag: nanny state

California Bill Would Electronically Cap Vehicle Speed to 10 MPH Over Limit

Everyone wants safer roads. However, California senator Scott Wiener wants “SAFER” roads, as that’s the name of the bill he proposed, which would electronically cap a new vehicle’s top speed to 10 mph over the speed limit, among other things.

Part of the Speeding and Fatality Emergency Reduction on California Streets (SAFER California Streets) bill published Tuesday would require all vehicles built starting in 2027 to have speed governors. As proposed, they’d work using a vehicle’s GPS compared with a database of posted speed limits, though speed limit sign recognition would seem to present another method. The text of SB-961 mentions that the electronic regulator “shall only be capable of being temporarily disabled by the driver of the vehicle,” but doesn’t explain in what circumstances a driver should or will be allowed to do that.

Other road changes in the bill include side underride guards on trucks, to reduce the risk of cars and bikes being pulled underneath in a crash; improved crosswalks; and curb extensions. These new rules are designed to counter a rise in reckless driving since the pandemic. According to TRIP, a national transportation research nonprofit, traffic casualties in California rose 22% from 2019 to 2022, and 4,400 Californians died in traffic accidents in 2022.

“The alarming surge in road deaths is unbearable and demands an urgent response,” said Senator Wiener in a news release. “There is no reason for anyone to be going over 100 miles per hour on a public road, yet in 2020, California Highway Patrol issued over 3,000 tickets for just that offense. Preventing reckless speeding is a commonsense approach to prevent these utterly needless and heartbreaking crashes.”

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Chuck Schumer Attacks Lifesaving Zyn Nicotine Pouches

Less than three months after launching an attack on energy drinks, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.) has a new target: Zyn nicotine pouches.

In a press release Sunday, Schumer labeled Zyn a “quiet and dangerous” alternative to vaping, claiming that with the decline in smoking, tobacco companies are adapting by focusing on new products like oral nicotine. Zyns are small pouches of nicotine meant to be placed between the lips and gums. Two strengths of the product are available at three and six milligrams of nicotine, and they come in several flavors.

Schumer’s ire appears to have been raised by the rapid growth in sales of nicotine pouches and so-called “Zynfluecers” on TikTok promoting the product. Schumer fears nicotine pouches could become a teen trend, as vaping did in 2019 before rapidly declining as the tobacco age was raised to 21 and schools became more aware of the problem. To head off a potential increase in youth nicotine addiction, Schumer wants the Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration to investigate the marketing of Zyn and potentially restrict their flavors.

But Schumer’s framing has the story backward. Zyn is not a dangerous alternative to vaping but a dramatically safer alternative to smoking. One of the reasons smoking has declined substantially over the last decade is because safer nicotine alternatives like vapes and Zyn are switching smokers away from cigarettes. The closest equivalent for which we have decades of data is an oral smokeless tobacco called snus. Snus is most prevalent in Sweden, and not coincidentally, Sweden has the lowest smoking and lung cancer rates in Europe because those interested in using nicotine do so in a much safer form.

Schumer is right that nicotine pouches are enjoying enormous sales, but he would be wrong to assume nicotine-naive youth are driving these sales. According to the National Youth Tobacco Survey, only 1.5 percent of middle and high schoolers use nicotine pouches, and just 2.3 percent have ever tried a nicotine pouch. Even among the minority of young people who use products like Zyn, most are not nicotine newbies. A study of adolescents and adults aged 15-24 who used nicotine pouches found the vast majority were smokers or had smoked cigarettes in the past at 73 percent and 81 percent, respectively. Just like with e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches disproportionately appeal to people who are already using nicotine most often in its most dangerous form, which is cigarettes.

Schumer’s concern that Zyn comes in several flavors like cinnamon and citrus is also misguided. For one, Zyn has already applied to the FDA to be authorized for sale, and the agency will determine whether it presents a net benefit to public health. But suppose flavors in nicotine products are inherently youth-appealing, as Schumer suggests. In that case, he should be just as outraged that nicotine gums, which have been around for decades, are sold in flavors like “cinnamon surge,” “fruit chill,” and “spearmint burst.” Nicotine flavor bans have a poor track record in improving public health, with bans on flavored vapes associated with an increase in cigarette sales.

Schumer’s intervention drew mockery on X (formerly known as Twitter), including from Republican lawmakers and conservative commentators defending Zyn. The reaction is perhaps unsurprising, given that Tucker Carlson is the most famous Zyn consumer.

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Four Toronto-area school boards reschedule upcoming PA days due to solar eclipse risks

The 2024 total solar eclipse and its potential risks have forced at least four school boards west of Toronto to reschedule their professional activity days in April, according to officials.

In announcements published this week, Peel District School Board and Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board said the previously planned PA day on May 17 will now take place on April 8, when the celestial event will blot out the sun across eastern Canada for a few minutes.

“…There are risks associated with viewing a solar eclipse,” the school boards said in matching news releases, citing the Canadian Space Agency’s guidance. “Looking directly at the sun, without appropriate protection, can lead to severe eye damage or loss of eyesight, even during an eclipse.”

The boards said that because the eclipse will occur around the same time students are dismissed, moving the PA day to April 8 will “ensure that students will not be outdoors during” that time.

Last week, Halton District School Board and Halton Catholic District School Board also jointly announced that they were moving their scheduled April 22 PA Day to April 8. The boards said the decision was made in consultation with student transportation services.

“By rescheduling the PA Day to coincide with the eclipse, we mitigate possible student​​​ transportation and safety concerns and challenges for families that could arise as a result of the darkness that would be experienced while students are being dismissed from school,” the boards said in a statement.

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US tourist shocked when he was asked to sign ‘release form’ after ordering hamburger cooked medium at Toronto Hilton

Is there anything more disconcerting than being asked to sign a waiver before tucking into a hamburger?

An American visitor to Toronto shocked hundreds of Reddit users last week by sharing that he was asked to sign a waiver when he ordered a medium-cooked hamburger at a Hilton hotel restaurant.

“I ordered my burger medium and the waiter took it with no question or comment,” he wrote in a post captioned “Toronto burger came with a release form.”

“She brought it and it looked great! When I had my first bite she brought me a release form and said we always make our burgers well done, but since you wanted it medium … you should sign this.”

The poster said that upon the special “medium” request, the waiter informed the man that the only burger option was well done and requested them to sign the form.

The form stated it would clear the hotel restaurant against any claims for damages related to any foodborne illnesses arising from the medium-cooked burger.

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Toronto Bans Tobogganing on 45 Hills, Puts Up Warning Signs

Talk about a slippery slope. Toronto recently erected warning signs on 45 hills around the city that read: “Tobogganing is not allowed.”

The warning further clarifies that “hazards such as trees, stumps, rocks, rivers or roads make this hill unsafe.” The signs also include a URL for a website where kids can find one of 27 tobogganing-approved hills. (Not even a QR code?)

Ricki Gurwitz, a Toronto mom of two, is exasperated.

“The fear of liability is ruining modern childhood,” she says. “I used to toboggan all the time with friends when I was a kid, and it was one of my favorite parts about winter.”

Bill Steigerwald, a longtime newspaper writer and author of 30 Days a Black Man, agrees.

“There are too many nanny rules aimed at making the world so safe that people, and especially kids, are not allowed to do anything outdoors but sit on a bench,” he says.

Toronto City Councilman Brad Bradford also opposes the ban.

“Frankly, it’s embarrassing,” he told The Toronto Star. “This is part of the Canadian experience, growing up in winter cities, and Toronto shouldn’t be the exception to that.”

Not only do kids lose out when trees become an obstacle to outdoor fun, but so does the city itself. Anti-tobogganing legislation makes Toronto “move in the direction of no-fun city,” says Bradford.

Last year, the city put up bales of hay around the trees on the popular hill in Bradford’s district to avoid crashes. Now, tobogganing is banned on that hill. (Of course, crashing into a solid bale of hay is perhaps not so different from crashing into a tree, in this humble correspondent’s view.)

Maybe it’s just that nobody wanted to bother with the bales this year, mused Philip Howard, an anti-bureaucracy crusader and author of Everyday Freedom.

“Memories of a fun place have been yanked away from families in Toronto,” he says.

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Date rape drug test kits soon to be required at bars, nightclubs in California

In California it is about to get a lot harder for partygoers and revelers at bars and nightclubs to have their drinks “roofied” unwittingly.

A new law known as AB 1013 will go into effect in the Golden State this July that will require all bars and nightclubs to keep testing kits at their establishments that can detect drugs like Rohypnol, ketamine or the sedative GHB.

According to the bill, these business owners must offer to sell their customers the unexpired testing devices “at a cost not to exceed a reasonable amount based on the wholesale cost of those devices” or offer them for free.

There must also be signage at the facilities that read: “Don’t get roofied! Drink spiking drug test kits available here. Ask a staff member for details.”

The law goes into effect July 1, 2024, and will be repealed on Jan. 1, 2027, unless reinstated by the California General Assembly. The bill was proposed California Democrat Josh Lowenthal.

The kits will include a straw, sticker and strip to detect the “date rape drugs” in drinks.

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Spain considers banning smoking and vaping on ALL beaches

Spain is considering banning smoking on all beaches as it presses ahead with tough new measures.

The Spanish Ministry of Health has confirmed a new crackdown on both smoking and vaping and says people’s health has to be protected.

One of its new priorities is to resurrect the anti-smoking plan which will include extending smoke-free spaces to terraces, beaches and cars in the presence of minors and pregnant women.

‘We must look at the law again because we cannot turn our backs on the only measure that can give the population more years of life and a better quality of life, which is to reduce smoking,’ said Health Minister Mónica García.

The Comprehensive Plan for the Prevention and Control of Smoking 2021-2025 was finalised a year and a half ago but has not yet seen the light of day.

The Ministry of Health says it wants to ‘remove it from the drawer’ and expand the ban on tobacco consumption to more areas.

‘The first steps are to get it out of the box,’ said Monica García. ‘We will have to look at each of the cases and each of the assumptions.

‘What we plan to is study what that plan is going to be, if it needs to be expanded, if it needs to be modified, but we do have a firm commitment to those recommendations.’

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WHO Calls for Punitive Booze and Soda Taxes on the Anniversary of Prohibition Repeal

How do you mark the anniversary of Prohibition’s repeal? At Reason we celebrate the hard-won victory of (relative) sanity that led to the passage of the 21st Amendment repealing the 18th Amendment and clearing the way for Americans to again (legally) consume alcoholic beverages. We also point to lessons that can be learned from failed efforts to use the force of law to prevent people from making their own choices.

But if you’re an international nanny-stater, you use the day to call for restrictions on popular beverages.

“WHO calls on countries to increase taxes on alcohol and sugary sweetened beverages,” the World Health Organization headlined a December 5 press release, precisely 90 years after the ratification of the 21st Amendment. “The World Health Organization (WHO) is releasing today new data that show a low global rate of taxes being applied to unhealthy products such as alcohol and sugary sweetened beverages (SSBs). The findings highlight that the majority of countries are not using taxes to incentivize healthier behaviours.”

Admittedly, WHO is a meddlesome world organization, so one can’t expect it to always be aware of important political dates in any one country. Still, the irony is rich enough to make you reach for something sweet and buzz-inducing. Why not double down on control-freakery on a day when Americans with a modicum of historical awareness reflect on the defeat of such efforts?

That said, WHO didn’t call for outright bans on sweet and boozy drinks. The idea is to hike prices through the tax system so that people—presumably those with less money—can’t afford them and therefore become slimmer and more sober.

“Taxes that increase alcohol prices by 50% would help avert over 21 million deaths over 50 years and generate nearly US$17 trillion in additional revenues,” insists WHO.

WHO also points to polling data showing that majorities in multiple countries support sin taxes on alcohol, sugary drinks, and tobacco. Presumably, those surveyed could purchase fewer such products of their own accord but want pressure applied from above on those who might choose differently.

But what people support in the abstract isn’t the same thing as what they actually do when living under real-life policies. Laws and unintended consequences have a funny way of colliding again and again.

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White House Delays Implementing Ban On Menthol Cigarettes Until At Least 2024

According to a Dec. 6 updated regulatory agenda, the review process will now continue into 2024, with a current target date of March to possibly implement the ban.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been developing a rule to eliminate menthol as a characterizing cigarette flavor since 2022. The federal agency estimates a ban on the flavor additive could prevent 300,000 to 650,000 smoking deaths over several decades. They claim most of the preventable deaths would be among minority groups and Americans of African descent, who disproportionately smoke menthol cigarettes.

In the proposed rule, the federal agency said the new product standard would reduce the appeal of cigarettes, particularly to youth and young adults, and possibly decrease the likelihood of them progressing to “regular cigarette smoking.” If the rule is successfully implemented, cigarette companies will have one year to phase out menthol. It’s unclear if they would face any penalties for failing to adhere to the new rule.

“In addition, the tobacco product standard would improve the health and reduce the mortality risk of current menthol cigarette smokers by decreasing cigarette consumption and increasing the likelihood of cessation,” the FDA rule reads.

According to the FDA, menthol is a flavor additive with a mint taste and aroma that aids in reducing the harshness and irritation of smoking. It says the additive also helps boost the appeal of cigarettes and makes the menthol variants interact with nicotine in the brain, enhancing the nicotine’s addictive effects.

Anti-smoking groups have been backing the FDA’s efforts since the beginning. Following the updated rule implementation date, some of the anti-smoking groups warned the delay could see the effort to phase out menthol held up indefinitely.

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