Quarantines may be justified

[stuart]

On Saturday, April 19, 2003, Harmon came up with this...

HS>    Agreed, except for smoking in public. All smoking in public should be
HS> banned. No one has the right to pollute the air I have to breath, in any way. I
HS> shouldn't have to breath in or even smell someones else's drug as I walk down
HS> the street.

You know, by exhaling, you're releasing dangerous carbon dioxide into
air, which is air pollution, so I'm going to propose a bill to prevent
you from breathing in public, because you don't have the right to
pollute the air I breathe.

Smoking in public, that's an easy one to pick on. But the argument
holds no water, unfortunately. Find me RELIABLE, UNBIASED evidence that
second-hand smoke is actually dangerous, and I'll agree to ban smoking.

Everybody's 'second-hand smoke causes cancer' routine is based on a 1992
EPA report that manipulated data to fit their preconceived notion of
what was 'bad'. They fit the facts to their hypothesis, not the other
way around. They ignored legitimate studies that didn't support their
hypothesis and had to actually lower their standards of risk assessment
to 'prove' a connection between second-hand smoke and lung cancer.

Find some real research by an INDEPENDENT party with real evidence that
second-hand smoke causes cancer.

Cardiovascular disease is the biggest killer in America.
This fraudulent EPA report estimates 3000 people die from second-hand
smoke related illness each year. Almost 3000 people die EACH DAY
from cardiovascular disease.

Let's go over that again:
second-hand smoke: 3000 per year
cardiovascular disease: almost 3000 PER DAY

So why are people trying to ban smoking in public instead of banning
McDonalds and Burger King? Getting rid of McDonalds would surely ease
America's cardiovascular strain, it would lower health insurance costs,
the rest of the world might not consider us the bloated, fat-gorged
leech on the ass of humanity, and Brazil might have some more forests.

America would be much healthier if instead of eating at McDonalds people
went to Subway, even if Subway was filled with chain-smoking nicotine
fiends. But I guess it's a lot easier to pick on smoking than fast food.

Car exhaust is far worse than cigarette smoke. Ban cars first.
Oh wait, that'd be a bit inconvenient, wouldn't it.
Wait, I know! Airplanes! They release more toxic fumes than anything!
But that'd be inconvenient too. Hmmmm.....
VOLCANOES! Yeah, volcanoes release more toxins into the air than the
entire industrial revolution did! How do you ban volcanoes, though....

I'm sorry you don't like cigarette smoke. Don't stand downwind.
Don't try to ban it, though.

Banning. Ick.
I'm always very distrustful of people who want to ban things.
There are always better ways.

-- 
stuart

Anyone who tells you they want a utopia wants to put chains on the
souls of your children. They want to deny history and strangle any
unforeseen possibility. They should be resisted to the last breath.
-Bruce Sterling-