Detrimental bans

[Pringles]

I have spent years looking for published evidence that environmental tobacco smoke is dangerous to health, but have failed to find any. We see plenty of papers on the presence of cotinine in people exposed to tobacco smoked by others, but there are other toxic components in smoke. The levels of these substances in non-smokers exposed to tobacco smoke are conservatively estimated to reach 1/500th of the dose inhaled by smokers.
Such findings have particular relevance here in Western Australia because of a recent bill outlawing tobacco smoking in pavement dining areas and in cars when children are travelling.
There needs to be unbiased study into the socially disruptive effects of anti-smoking campaigns: for instance, the effect of the campaign on obesity and dementia, and the effect on the use of other psychoactive drugs such as cocaine and cannabis.
Many people in anti-smoking campaigns will mean well, but the involvement of well-financed and powerful groups could affect coverage of the evidence that environmental tobacco smoke has no significant detrimental effects on health. - new scientist