Michael Bloomberg Quotes
Does your desire to smoke anywhere, at any time, trump the right of others to breathe clean air … ? … The need to breathe clean air is more important than the license to pollute it.
Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City (Republican and Democrat), City Council Debate on Smoking Restrictions, October 10, 2002
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Bloomberg was the first public official in the world to push for and pass a law banning smoking in all offices, hotels, restaurants, and other public places despite huge opposition funded by the tobacco companies and many of the business and restaurant owners. Despite the fact that it would literally save thousands of lives a year, a ban was feared by politicians as it might harm business, tourism and their own political positions. However, after New York banned smoking, other cities started to do the same, not only in America but all over the world. This saved millions of lives. One courageous man, a single politician, changed much of the world, and saved many more lives than most doctors will.
Marijuana had been made legal in a number of states at that time. Based on the example of New York City, many other cities of the world were just then passing ordinances to make it illegal to smoke in any public place or any private establishment that serves the public.
The. law was enforced and upheld by the Tennessee Supreme Court (Austin v State) which recognized the health danger of tobacco. Tennessee was an agricultural state where tobacco was grown and the law was repealed as the result of political pressure. But this is the first and only absolute state prohibition on tobacco that has been enacted in the United States.
The World Health Organization, a component of the United Nations, advocated national restrictive legislation to control and eliminate smoking. The smoking addict, hooked on nicotine was caught between public health efforts to regulate and eliminate tobacco and the efforts to treat the addicts and respect the individual’s right to freedom of choice.
In Japan it was illegal to manufacture and sell cigarettes except for the government which maintains the cigarette monopoly and reaps $18 billion annually as a result. This label was all the government could bring itself to use. Japanese health authorities saw it as a type of victory since prior to this there was no warning whatsoever.
1st Earl of Beaconsfield. In the United States, President Theodore Roosevelt shocked the major business interests when he proposed regulating food and other government quality assurance of the private marketplace. Many Americans saw this as an overdue reform. One of the reasons was that Prime Minister Disraeli had advocated government regulation a quarter of a century earlier with statements like this quotation.
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P. He was the Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a candidate for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president of the United States.
