Second-hand Smoke Prevents Lung Cancer

Yes, you know this one. It's secondhand smoke.

Wait, did I say causes? I meant contributes to (we save the word 'causes' for press conferences).

The Proof of Contribution

The study that kicked off the claims of secondhand smoke damage was carried out by the EPA in 1992. It was not a study, but rather a "cherry-picked" analysis of 30 studies on lung cancer and secondhand smoke that was later whittled down to 11 studies. The EPA claimed that secondhand smoke causes 3,000 deaths a year, and then listed it as a carcinogen.

You will find, amongst the resources listed, accountings of just how deeply flawed this analysis was, as well as how it was manipulated to show results the EPA had already publicly proclaimed.

The stimuli that set off my bullshit detectors about secondhand smoke is in this simple fact. The EPA confidently reported, as all public health agencies have, negative health effects from secondhand smoke at any level. They don't even do that for mercury, claiming that infants can tolerate some mercury exposure with no health effects.

Benefits of Secondhand Smoke

The best conducted study so far has been the World Health Organization's seven year, seven country estimation of risk of lung cancer from secondhand smoke. The only statistically significant finding was a 22% decrease in lung cancer in children exposed to secondhand smoke.

This was found after subjecting the number to a higher confidence level than all other findings within the study. This study was buried after the results were in. Every study, showing either no correlation or protective effects of secondhand smoke, has been likewise downplayed, ignored, or otherwise buried. (See the resources below.)

And You Thought Tobacco Companies Were Manipulative...HAH!

There are two major movers in the anti-smoking bans sweeping the country, public health organizations and non-profit charities. You are well aware of the common justification for why tobacco companies lied about addiction, profit. Let's look at the other side.

Public health organizations, the CDC, FDA, WHO et al are bureaucracies, and bureaucracies want to grow, to expand their powers, appropriate more tax-dollars, and increase salaries. They do this by finding some health threat and making it seem more threatening (swine flu) than it really is.

They have lots of help, because government is itself a massive bureaucracy committed to helping its babies get bigger. The EPA lists tobacco as a carcinogen, the WHO gets millions to carry out a study, the Senate gives control of tobacco to the FDA, Johnson & Johnson sells quit-smoking products...

"What," you may ask, "why include that last one?" Well, the Robert Johnson Woods Foundation holds billions in Johnson & Johnson stock. In fact, it is the non-profit's primary source of funding. The foundation has funded studies as poorly conducted as the EPA analysis, with over a $100 million gifted to anti-tobacco studies and programs (including smoking ban initiatives).

Finally, one more reason this secondhand smoke hooplah has continued so long. Toxic tort litigation. Workers everywhere, from IBM to migratory farm workers, are exposed to toxic chemicals all day, every day. Some of them wind up suing their employers, because employers are notorious for lying to their workers about the risk of, say, breathing fluoridated aluminum. If the employers can cast doubt by drawing upon studies showing saturated fat kills and secondhand smoke kills, then they can discredit the majority of these cases.

Public smoking ban advocates would much rather you just trust the experts.

The Facts About Secondhand Smoke, and a primer on statistics and the agendas of charities and public health organizations

Michael Crichton Speaks Out on the Stupidity of Science By Consensus (considering the search for extraterrestrials and secondhand smoke in the same speech, haha)

Analysis of a Study Fashioned to Win a 1997 Court Case Involving Flight Attendants and Secondhand Smoke

The Economic Costs of Second-hand Smoke Bans

George Burns and the Death of Liberty, Where Is God When You Need Him?

The WHO Study Cover-up