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In other words, nothing that is proof of causation, as opposed to correlation..........

I have never claimed smoking is a healthly habit, and have never encouraged anyone to take it up - but I've read all the studies that have been made public and have at least read the abstract of the the most conclusive one that is being supressed because it proves that exposure to SHS is not harmful in the way the antis wish it to be.

Reaction to SHS smoke because of a pre-existing condition is not any kind of proof that SHS causes anything.

I go back to my original premise - if you don't want to be around it, don't go where you know it is permitted and don't blame the smokers for your negligence of taking your children to where it is permitted.

I got a call last month from the school nurse because my daughter was complaining about an earache.....I didn't get a call out of some SOP, I got the call because it is so unusual for my daughter to be sick at all. A quick dental exam solved the problem - a popcorn skin caught up in the gum.

It's a sad thing that a child that has been exposed to SHS is so healthy, isn't it? I wonder how I made it to 43 or my husband made it to 49.........and in perfect health.

According to the experts we both should have been dead before we even bothered to start a family, so would his parents and my parents.

I am a conservative who values personal freedom. And I disagree with wrapping the smoking issue in the mantle of personal freedom. Citizens have the personal freedom to jump off a roof, but they don't have the personal freedom to land on innocent bystanders.

I have a similar story to dallasgop. My mother smoked many years because, goshdarnit (not the word she used) it was her right to do so. She is currently dying from small cell lung cancer. It's not a good way to go. As was mentioned in another post, it was her decision to smoke. But did the use of her "personal freedom" to smoke affect anyone else? Disregard the issue of SHS. Who takes care of her? Who pays for her medical bills? (We all help, she goes to the VA.) Other people are attending to the consequences of her "personal freedom". So you see, smoking is not a "personal" freedom issue. No man is an island.

I guess I wonder why a conservative would use smoking as a banner for personal freedom? Someone mentioned in an earlier post that their mother is ill because of her poor nutritional choices. Big difference, we all must eat, but there is no necessity to drag on a burning piece of weed hanging out of your mouth.

I'm glad that NYC has given businesses the ability to not have smokers on their premises. My mother wouldn't go anyplace where she wasn't allowed to smoke. Smoke free environments might have given her the impetus to stop or never start.

Donning flame (and smoke) resistant suit.