Replies

1) This survey was conducted by an interested advocacy group. Would you believe the results of a survey about abortion if it were conducted by Planned Parenthood?

2) The fact that something precedes an event, does not establish a causal relationship.

3) This survey is missing a "control" group necessary to establish a cause and effect.

4)The hospitality industry is a b!t(h - a large percentage of businesses fail with no outside intervention.

You may agree with the conclusions, but it is still junk science and propaganda.

1) This survey was conducted by an interested advocacy group.
How do you figure? The American Beverage Institute has a vested interest in tobacco? Or the American Beverage Institute has a vested interest in keeping businesses open that serve beverages?

2) The fact that something precedes an event, does not establish a causal relationship.
They took figures for before the event and figures for after the event and posted the numbers. I would say that in all likelyhood, barring any other event of the same magnitude or greater, the event caused the numbers to change.

) This survey is missing a "control" group necessary to establish a cause and effect.
This is a survey, not a scientific study. I did not realize that surveys HAD "control" groups.

4)The hospitality industry is a b!t(h - a large percentage of businesses fail with no outside intervention.
I agree but we're not talking about the number of businesses failing here. We're talking about the amount of people that actually come to businesses of this type and how much money they spend.
Admittedly, some of these businesses might have lost customers for other reasons but don't you think it strange that, as a whole, over half saw a drop in business after the ban was put into place?

You may agree with the conclusions, but it is still junk science and propaganda.

I do agree with the conclusions but it's NOT science, even junk science, and if it is propaganda then the numbers that cause this propaganda have shown the same trend in practically every place that has instituted a smoking ban.

1) This survey was conducted by an interested advocacy group. Would you believe the results of a survey about abortion if it were conducted by Planned Parenthood?

But you'd believe a "study" by paid professional anti-smoker guru Stanton Glantz that says the opposite? Give me a break.

2) The fact that something precedes an event, does not establish a causal relationship.

Hey, whose side are you on? We know that correlation does not prove causation, but most antis won't admit it because that sends all their "studies" right down the crapper.

3) This survey is missing a "control" group necessary to establish a cause and effect.

Asked and answered. Surveys don't have "control groups."

4)The hospitality industry is a b!t(h - a large percentage of businesses fail with no outside intervention.

That doesn't explain the businesses, particularly small ones, that have been successful for decades, although with a small profit margin, who suddenly lose 20-30% of their customers and can't keep the doors open. These people are not just statistics, they're real people losing real businesses and jobs, and the smoking bans are causing it.