A few of you have asked what I make of this week’s Surgeon Genera’ls report on secondhand smoke. Truth is, I haven’t had time to read it, much less pick at it. But public health movement advocate-turned-skeptic Michael Siegal has, and begins debunking here and here. Without looking at the study, the idea that exposure to secondhand smoke for mere secounds “sets the cancer process in motion” seems so hyperbolic so as to be beyond the realm of serious discussion.

Of course, that hasn’t stopped the media from running with it without an ounce of skepticism.

I’d add a couple of thoughts:

1) Richard Carmona (the U.S. Surgeon General) is little more than a megaphone for the public heath industry, and a rather hysterical one at that. This is the same guy whohas said that obesity poses a bigger threat than terrorism, and that if it were up to him, we’d have a prohibition on all tobacco products. Hardly the voice of hard science and cold reason, or of striking the right balance between public health and personal freedom.

2) None of this ought to matter. The case against public smoking bans was never based on how risky secondhand smoke actually is (though it’s certainly worth pointing out the exaggerated claims from the other side). The case against smoking bans rests on property rights, free assocation, and allowing people to manage and navigate their own risks, without all-knowing politicians and public health fascists doing it for them.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 30th, 2006 at 3:07 pm by Radley Balko and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.