The International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association today joined in supporting Opponents of Ohio Bans and three other groups in their fight against key elements of the Surgeon General's 2006 Report.

Columbus, Ohio (PRWEB) October 18, 2008 -- The International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association today joined in supporting Opponents of Ohio Bans and three other groups in their fight against key elements of the Surgeon General's 2006 Report.

Despite misleading information to the contrary, the report concluded that evidence against secondhand smoke as an environmental hazard was inconclusive and, according to OOB, two-thirds of the studies regarding smoke-free policies and business were authored or co-authored by the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California San Francisco. No studies cited were conducted by economists or trade organizations.

"We have long maintained that the 2006 Report was slanted to begin with and that the mainstream media and anti-smoking forces have further pushed those biases without regard to the truth," said Chris McCalla, legislative director of IPCPR, an association of some 2,000 owners of smoke shops and manufacturers of premium, hand-rolled cigars.

According to the OOB website at www.OpponentsofOhioBans.com, four separate groups have filed complaints with the Office of Research Integrity, Health and Human Services against the report which has drawn criticism from scientists and epidemiologists worldwide since it was published in 2006. The groups include OOB, Hawaii Smokers Alliance, Ban the Ban Wisconsin, and Citizens Freedom Alliance.

"The claims that thousands die due to second hand smoke are not true and are a misuse of the secondhand smoke research results and data. The Office on Research Integrity should investigate and discipline the researchers who misrepresented the science and the public health officials who wrote the Surgeon General's report that made outrageous and false claims about the effects of secondhand smoke," said Dr. John Dale Dunn of the Heartland Institute of Chicago, and the American Council on Science and Health in New York City.

"The Surgeon General's 2006 Report says that the evidence is inconclusive regarding the health aspects of secondhand smoke. That explains why the Occupational Safety and Health Administration does not regard secondhand smoke as an occupational or environmental hazard," McCalla said.

McCalla also cited secondhand smoke air quality testing conducted by the American Cancer Society that showed secondhand smoke concentrations are up to 25,000 times safer than OSHA standards. In addition, he said, Oak Ridge National Laboratory testing confirms that results of air quality testing of secondhand smoke in bars and restaurants "were considerably below limits established by OSHA."