Clearing The Air

I am somewhat apprehensive to publish Dr. Siegel's latest work....

While I admit I don't know Dr. Siegel, we have had occasion to email each other. I gather, as a general rule Dr. Siegel is on the other side of the smoking ban debate. However, unlike his comrade anti-smoking activists he can see when the "tin foil hat" lobbyists are going too far.

Consider Dr Siegel's reaction to anti-smoking lobbyist efforts to ban smoking outdoors:

If we cannot justify outdoor smoking bans on the basis that the behavior is substantially harming other people who need to be protected from the smoke, then we simply cannot justify these policies.

And the more anti-smoking advocates attempt to do just that, the more I become scared. The more it becomes apparent that there is a hidden agenda here beyond a public health one. The more it becomes apparent that there is simply not any regard for the value of individual liberty, privacy, or autonomy and that any means to achieve our desired goal is acceptable..

Now couple the good Doctor's point above with air quality facts that secondhand smoke concentrations are 150+ times safer than OSHA guidelines and you've got the entire reason why smoking bans ANYWHERE are ludicrous and unnecessary.


Secondhand smoke does not exceed (fail) OSHA air quality standards. Conversely, local politicians are content to allow OSHA air quality standards to dictate in our factories where welding smoke is MUCH heavier and more carcinogenic than secondhand tobacco smoke.

If local lawmakers want to ban tobacco smoke , which is 150+ times safer than OSHA air quality standards, then they must be consistent and ban factory process emissions which do not also exceed OSHA air quality standards for safety by the same 150+ factor. Doing so however would shutdown nearly every manufacturing facility in the country.

Read the entire letter by Dr. Siegel here.

posted by marcus aurelius @ 4:43 PM