Smoking is not a particularly healthy activity to engage in, but there are certainly disparate views within the medical community regarding the risks posed by second hand smoke. Suggesting that giving credence to any of these alternate theories is merely the result of ignorance and egotism is a bit much, in my opinion, not to mention arrogant. I guess Brian was premature in applauding the lack of name calling.

Such arguments seem to exhibit a blind faith in government sponsored medical research that I personally find unwarranted. Certainly, our government caretakers have proven themselves grossly incorrect on many medical matters. In some cases, their faulty research led to closing down entire industries and the economic hardships that accompany such incidents (saccharine comes to mind--causes cancer, conveniently for the makers of Nutrasweet, perhaps...but wait, now it doesn't cause cancer). In other cases, faulty government sponsored medical research has cost lives (banning DDT lead to a resurgence of malaria that wiped out millions worldwide--oops, years later we decided it wasn't so bad after all). So, while I don't think smoking a pack a day will put you on the road to better health, I also don't think it ridiculous that studies on the effects of second hand smoke could be interpreted partly on the basis of pressure from special interest groups.

Whatever my opinion on the subject, I will concede that those opinions are not based on my personal scientific research on the matter. Some of the statements in this thread do highlight the fact that health concerns are often secondary to the fact that someone "just doesn't like it". So, if "smokers stink" is the underlying basis for supporting smoking bans in bars and nightclubs, regardless of real or imagined health issues, I'll stick with my original stance. I'm more worried about a society that shows an increasing desire to control people's behavior than I am of second hand smoke. The latter I know how to avoid, if I so desire.

Back to the original point, though....if there is an obvious economic benefit to banning smoking in bars and nightclubs then I imagine we'll see much more of it without need of government intervention. When we see a flood of bar owners outlawing smoking in their businesses in locations with no ordinance forcing them to do so, then we'll know that, yes, smoke free bars are more desirable in the marketplace and it won't take a survey from questionable sources to tip us off to that fact.

Randy

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