Facts can't justify the harassment of smokers

Every time the government wants to increase the already draconian taxes on cigarettes, a campaign begins to further vilify smokers. All the anti-smoking hacks come out of the closet and start publishing unverifiable statistics. Hysteria rules.

Last year the World Health Organisation released a study that said air pollution was carcinogenic. No one attempted to estimate what percentage of that pollution was from cigarette smoke, but I assure you, next to automobiles, it is infinitesimal. What that study proved is that it is impossible to determine how many people have died from smoking, and certainly it is improbable that anyone has ever died from second-hand cigarette smoke.

Despite all of this, the anti-smoking people continue the charade and then drive their cars home.

What people and governments have done to smokers is criminal at best. It is wise to have campaigns to discourage taking up the habit, but to continue to harass existing smokers is cruel and hypocritical. And yet it continues. Shame on all of you.

John Arnone