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Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
There are hypochondriacs everywhere. I thank god that my grandmother is in an HMO or else she'd be personally driving up Medicare to the tune of several million to get all the things that she thinks are wrong with her fixed. It escapes her notice that her parents both lived well into their ninties and that she's as healthy as a horse.
There is despite your assertions to the contrary, an increased incidence of lung cancer and other illnesses associated with exposure to second hand smoke. It is neither irresponsible nor an over-reaction for public health officials or other public officials to try to minimize the risk of exposure in areas that they control, citing health reasons. Same goes for ozone. Most of the time the warnings are issued as such: sitting unprotected in the sun for too long can lead to an increased risk for cancer, wrinkles, melasma (my particular sun-related curse), etc.
If you want to really get into an interesting public health discussion, start thinking about the DDT ban's contribution to the increased incidence of malaria in countries that can ill afford to have their populations and health care systems strained.
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Can you spell out that increase in lung cancer in solid numbers, say, how many more times out of 100,000 you're likely to get lung cancer than a person not exposed to 2d hand smoke? "Increased" is the sort of word that begs greater explanation.
