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http://www.newbooksinfo.com.au/

Found a lengthy book review critiquing the anti-smoker movement. You have to see the book cover.
Excerpt below.

"Rampant Antismoking Signifies Grave Danger presents an examination of the antismoking mentality in greater, multidimensional context. While there have been many tens of thousands of "studies" concerning the phenomenon of smoking, there has essentially been no analysis of the antismoking mentality. The book's discussion covers biological (epidemiologic), psychological, social/relational, moral, legal, and philosophical/spiritual considerations in indicating that domineering materialism does not reflect some great conspiracy but, rather, a regression into "rule by superficiality." Most participants in the materialist assault have no idea what they are fueling. The mentality, or cult framework, is best characterized as incompetent and ignorant - lacking in multidimensional insight. It is by this superficial or shallow reasoning, and during a period when almost all manner of questionable conduct has been "normalized" by the same framework, that tobacco-smoking alone has been manufactured into the great "taboo" of the time: Antismoking has been concocted into a symbol of moral rectitude for morally floundering individuals and societies, i.e., moral fakery - a similar, troubling theme was also evident in Nazi Germany. Smoking has been manipulated into a projection point for all manner of contorted reasoning: It has been made a contemporary scapegoat, a fashionable bigotry, fulfilling a dysfunctional need of an unthinking populus. It is highlighted that this situation reflects a metaphysical crisis. Many nations are already in dire straits, and with the worst yet to come".

Thank you for that link - that sounds very interesting.

Some of the comments in the review, particularly regarding morality will probably hit quite a few nerves in the anti-smoker community.

Such as those that believe a non-smoking same sex couple are better candidates for parentage or adoption than a married heterosexual couple where one or both smoke.

Or the antis that believe abortion is a better option than a child being born to a smoking mother.

Again, my thanks - I think I will look into getting a copy of it.

dar29oh - great link to Dr. Vincent-Riccardo Di Pierri's book. Lengthy excerpt as you said. I liked closing especially on that page:

NOTE: Antismoking fanaticism is so widespread and acute within the medical establishment that there is now a considerable potential for iatrogenic effects regarding the treatment of those who smoke (e.g., standard of care, refusal of treatment). A simple action that smokers can take, particularly in the hospital setting, is to request a physician not suffering from an antismoking fixation.

Gabz, and others. Thanks for the post - lively exchanges / view points.

BUMP

Thanks for the link. You should also look at this book, Clean Living Movements: American Cycles of Health Reform (Praeger Press), by Ruth Engs, an Indiana University professor of applied health science and expert on reform movements, as well.

The book by Engs, her fifth on addictive behaviors, is titled Clean Living Movements: American Cycles of Health Reform (Praeger Press). It addresses the clean living movements of the past two centuries and notes their cyclical nature. She said the Civil War and World War I halted the momentum of the first (1830-1860) and second (1880-1920) clean living movements, respectively. Now the war on terrorism will do the same for the clean living movement that has been underway for some 30 years and would normally be expected to last another two to four years.

I believe that the current anti-smoking movement is a product of material excess. According to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, people first need to fulfill their physiological needs such as the basic essential of life such as food, water, shelter, safety, and security. Having achieved those, then individuals need to fulfill their psychological needs such as belonging and building their ego. Higher on the scale is self-actualization, where individual require to get a sense of fulfillment or self-worth. America today has a substantial amount of the population who have easily surpassed the state of foraging for those those basic needs and are "empty" in terms of their own self-worth. Anti-smokers rationalize that their actions to self-actualize to find their value as human beings is that they believe they need to control others' habits to save us from ourselves. Very condescending, eh? Anyway, the above book I linked to shows that human conditions are anything but static. World wars tend to push us back to trying to satisfy basic human physiological needs, so scarce resources can't be wasted away on frivilous activities such as behavioral control practices of these "health movements". We shall see soon enough.