Ping!!!
The rest of the story is that the dissemination of fallacious information by anti-smoking groups to the public in support of smoking bans is not only unfortunate because it is going to harm the tobacco control movement by undermining its credibility, reputation, and effectiveness, but because it is unethical and disrespectful of the basic principles of truthfulness and scientific accuracy in health communications, which are in turn founded on the principles of autonomy and self-determination, values which cannot and should not be trodden upon by public health organizations in free societies simply to promote a favored policy.
Please note that although the main link for this is to a Smokers' group, the links provided in the body of the article show that Dr. Siegel (yes, he is an MD) is and has been involved in the tobacco control movement for a good long time.
He is currently persona non-gratis to a certain extent in the movement because he has been exposing the "emperor has no clothes" facts about the tobacco control movement........which really isn't about tobacco ocntrol any longer, but rather about people control, specifically people who use tobacco products.
Here is a direct link to Dr. Siegel's blog...........it has much information.
Dr. Siegel and I disagree on many issues, but I can not help but give major kudos to a man willing to buck the system and stand up for integrity, honesty, truth, and ethical behavior, at major personal/professional expense to himself.
It is obviously not true that smoking cigarettes causes lung cancer, circulatory diseases, heart diseases, etc. After almost a half century of anti-smoking effort that has successfully reduced the number of smokers from 8 out of 10 to fewer than 4 out of 10, the death rate, adjusted for population growth, from smoking related diseases has increased.
Question: Why has the number of deaths from smoking related diseases not decreased? If smoking causes lung cancer, why do more people die today from lung cancer even though the smoking rate has gone dramatically down? Why has there not been a corresponding decrease in deaths from lung cancer?
Do we owe Joe Camel an apology? Anyone?
Thanks for the ping!