To my knowledge, Mike Royko is the first journalist to state the truth about second-hand smoke: ” . . . Scientific evidence that smoking is dangerous to non-smokers is skimpy if not outright phony.” Common sense should have told people this, but common sense has been swept aside by the hysteria-mongering of the anti-tobacco industry.
Yes, there is an anti-tobacco industry, staffed by people who make their livings and build careers by attacking tobacco. To inject new life into their industry, the tobacco bashers needed a new gimmick, and second-hand smoke as a cause of disease and death was born. To treat their statements and ”scientific” studies as unbiased truth is indeed naive.
If we would replace the hysteria-mongers and the self- appointed despots with rational providers of objective fact, we could develop reasonable laws, policies and practices. Instead of being set at each other`s throats, we could live with each other in peace.
