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Sure, but the health effects are smoking are well documented and significantly worse than eating candy bars, or even most other poor diet habits that people have. In addition, cigarettes negatively impact the health of non-smokers that have the misfortune of having sustained contact with a smoker (for example, children) due to not only second-hand smoke but also the toxins that cling to clothing and other surfaces.

It would be different if smoking only affected the smoker, but as it affects the wider population (such as higher overall health care premiums), it deserves stricter controls.



Second hand smoke has a much weaker connection to health issues than actual smoking.

And the "collective cost" argument is silly, because it can be applied to any personal liberty that negatively affects health.


Second hand smoke has been debunked years ago. Watch the "Penn and Teller Bullshit" on it.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher/2013/12/12/study-fi...


No it hasn't. There was a study that came out after that episode which confirmed secondhand smoke, and caused them to issue a retraction.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s8yqj3EL7A


Two points:

1) From your link, "The study doesn’t cover the many other ill effects of breathing somebody else’s cigarette smoke, of course, which include asthma and possibly cardio-pulmonary disease." So not debunked exactly.

2) Penn & Teller are entertainers (and illusionists). They present controversial opinions for the sake of a TV show. It is not journalism and shouldn't be accepted at face value.

ETA: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penn_%26_Teller:_Bullshit!

Penn says, "right now, as I sit here, there probably is danger in secondhand smoke".


Your link only says it doesn't cause cancer, not that it is harmless.

Asthma sufferers, for example, have all sorts of additional breathing difficulties when forced to breathe smoke (of any kind).


P&T's Bullshit is a really bad source of information.


"but the health effects are smoking are well documented and significantly worse than eating candy bars, or even most other poor diet habits that people have"

Heart disease is a bigger killer than cancer in many countries.


Smoking causes heart disease.


Plenty of non smokers get heart disease as well.

Plenty of non smokers also get cancer.


You linked heart disease to candy bars. That link is weaker than the link between smoking and heart disease.


My quote included most poor dietary habits as well. There is plenty of evidence that poor diet is linked to heart disease.




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