[Madame Dufarge]

In anycase, if I were smoking, when reports that smoking causes harm to the fetus, and this happened to me, I'd take it as a strong hint that just maybe the smoking position might not be so perfect.

My mother, my sisters, most of my aunts, and just about all of my friends smoked through their pregnancies and in not one instance was harm done to the baby.

You seem to be disturbingly enamored of "signs."

Who is this "other" person you think might have caused the "event?"

The Angel Gabriel?

[LionelHutz]

The repeated implication here that this deranged nutball was any kind of representative of the "anti-smoking forces" has no more validity than the unsupported assertion by others that was an NRA member.

I urge you not to use a "straw man" argument, where your response to an argument is not to address the real issue, but to make some extremist nutball's version of the issue and make that your debate. You are trying to say that this nutball is anti-smoking, therefore the "anti-smoking forces" are nuts. This incident is about a lunatic with a gun, not about smoking.

Having said all that, can you really believe that smoking isn't dangerous to unborn children? Anecdotal stories ("I smoked and I was fine") are not relevant when the main effect is the increase of risk factors. I don't think anybody is saying that all mothers that smoke harm their children. The evidence does however show that the risk of occurence of some problems is increased.

For example, the danger might be that the risk of birth defect is 5% rather than 2%. If you don't consider that noteworthy, then address that.

So yes, if you wanted to smoke around my pregnant wife, I might feel inclined to say something. Please don't compare to to this guy.

[Cvengr]

Must of been a little smokey in the maternity ward.