Most folks of sufficient training realize that statistical summaries are inferior at predicting individual outcomes. Nevertheless, the ODDS ARE VERY ACCURATE ESTIMATIONS of survival rates etc. etc. given proper parameters and criteria involved.
DENIAL BORN Glibness is a poor predictor of extended life, however.
Maybe so, but when you consider that in the 40s and 50s everybody smoked, and that many of us lived in the conditions of proximity I experienced the numbers of deaths for non smokers like myself and my wife does not seem to bear out the claims of the fatal consequences of second hand smoke. Though I admit to suffering frequent bouts with bronchitis as a kid which subsided after we moved out of the apartment to a six room colonial.