The anti-smoking people went off the rails sometime in the
1970’s, and have had only incidental contact with reality since. I
think, but cannot prove, that it has something to do with a study
that was done at about that time where the usual lab rats were put
through the usual experiment but the substance they were ‘exposed’
to was distilled water. The rate of increase in rodent tumors was
strikingly similar to a lot of experiments that had bee touted as
‘proving’ that various substances were carcinogens, and that called
a whole field of studies into question. At that point the
anti-tobacco crusade had thought that they had ‘scientific proof’
that smoking caused cancer,and the rug got jerked out from under
them. It is from that point on that their statistical ‘studies’
began to have obvious and serious bias, and they stopped having any
patience with opposition.

Now, I don’t doubt that smoking has a strong connection with a
variety of ills. But so does sodomy. And the ‘evidence’ that
smoking strongly affects anyone but the smokers and asthmatics is
largely hogwash. I keep waiting for somebody to get tired enough of
the crusade to start investigating its finances. That was what,
eventually, scuttled the Anti-Saloon League. Anti-Smoking is big
business, and it is given far less scrutiny than the tobacco
companies.