Because they can get away with it.
In Illinois:

At the Batavia meeting about a smoking ban:

David Riggs, Fox Valley Regional Director of American Cancer Society,
Batavia,
"expressed his thanks for this opportunity to discuss the possibility of a smoking ban.
He provided some education regarding second-hand smoke and noted it to be the 3rd

leading cause of preventable death in the United States. He stated in
Illinois alone, 2,900 people die each year from second-hand smoke."

The Illinois official death certificate has no space for mandatory
filing of whether a person smoked,whether they were exposed to SHS,or
whether tobacco use or exposure to SHS was a cause of what killed
them.
http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/deathcert_sampl
e.html

Smoke might be listed as a contributary factor;but,that is not the
same as causing. For instance; buying a Lotto ticket might contribute
to your winning,buying a Lotto ticket will not CAUSE you to win!!

Many people who do not smoke and are not exposed to SHS still die
from the diseases said to be caused by exposure to SHS.

It is not proveable in a court of law that one person has died from SHS exposure alone.


I do not know where he got the 2900 number;I suspect,he sits on the place that it came from.

He probably got the number from CDC although I think anybody can buy the computer program they use and plug in your own numbers.

quote:

Originally posted by squeezer:
He probably got the number from CDC although I think anybody can buy the computer program they use and plug in your own numbers.

The CDC also is the place for the 440,000 deaths caused by smoking.

If not one death can be shown to be due smoking in Illinois,the 5th most populous state; the whole claimed 440,000 is not proveable in a court of law.

Contributing to a death is one thing,causing a death is something different.

quote:

Originally posted by gkayser30:

quote:

Originally posted by squeezer:
He probably got the number from CDC although I think anybody can buy the computer program they use and plug in your own numbers.

The CDC also is the place for the 440,000 deaths caused by smoking.

Yeah, that's the computer program I'm talking about, SAMMEC.

quote:

Contributing to a death is one thing,causing a death is something different.

And who's to say that smoking even contributes to a death? It may and it may not. How do you prove that? If John Doe, 65, drops dead of a heart attack, weighed 350 pounds, ate greasy foods all his life, never excercised, and happened to be a smoker, how can anyone determine how much his smoking habit contributed to his death? That Truth commercial where they show a clogged artery of a smoker is a joke, because a person with massive plaque build-up would have arteries with the same characteristics whether they smoked or not.

GKayser30,

I completely agree with the spirit of your post, but I actually think that you're being a bit too kind!

It isn't necessary to question the causation of secondhand smoke versus the correlation, because the correlation itself is highly questionable. Frankly, it doesn't exist. It's even highly unlikely that exposure to secondhand smoke is even a contributing factor to any death.

Let's put it this way, if people had any real idea of the real risk of secondhand smoke exposure, and took that risk seriously, and followed the same logical reasoning regarding everything in their life, they wouldn't be able to leave the house. They really wouldn't be able to do anything.

The risks of exposure to secondhand smoke are so low, so easily explained by other contributing factors, and so biased in their observation, that they statistically may as well not exist.

According to relative risk models, you are 43,000X more likely to die by getting into a car. Compare that to being, at best, 2X more likely to die from exposure to secondhand smoke. And that's after being constantly exposed for 30 or 40 years!

Seconhand smoke is horseshit. The term shouldn't even exist. It's like worrying about drowning in your bathtub.

quote:

Seconhand smoke is horseshit. The term shouldn't even exist. It's like worrying about drowning in your bathtub.

The term didn't exist 20 years ago. And you're right. Let's say John and Paul are next-door neighbors. John has brown hair. Paul has blonde hair. John buys 2 Lottery tickets. Paul buys 1 Lottery ticket. Therefore, people with brown hair are twice as likely to win Lotteries.

Nothing like using flawed logic in the lottery idea. But then most smokers use flawed logic in finding reasons to keep making others rich by not admitting they have been used not by anti-smokers but by the tobacco companies. Smoking is not a right it is a privilege. Some one taught me long ago that your rights and privileges end where someone elses nose begins. At the time it was meant concerning fights I believe but it fits nicely when it somes to SHS too. Have a great day.

I don't know about other smokers, but the tobacco companies DID NOT make me smoke. No one did. It was my choice to do so. Nothing that tobacco companies have done in the past, or will do in the future has any influence over my choices or actions. I am the only one that is responsible for my actions.By the same token, Anti-smokers have no influence over me either. I enjoy smoking, and will continue to do so, one way or the other.

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny T:
Smoking is not a right it is a privilege.

Some one taught me long ago that your rights and privileges end where someone elses nose begins.

You had rotten a teacher. You haven't a clue to rights. Do a search on here and enlighten yourself.

quote:

Originally posted by ladyteal:
I don't know about other smokers, but the tobacco companies DID NOT make me smoke. No one did. It was my choice to do so. Nothing that tobacco companies have done in the past, or will do in the future has any influence over my choices or actions. I am the only one that is responsible for my actions.By the same token, Anti-smokers have no influence over me either. I enjoy smoking, and will continue to do so, one way or the other.

If they did not make the tobacco product and make it more addictive then you would not have started smoking in the first place. they mad e the commercials which make you think that it is cool to smoke.. I started for the same reason.

quote:

Originally posted by squeezer:You had rotten a teacher. You haven't a clue to rights. Do a search on here and enlighten yourself.

If you mean by here being this websire, I believe it would be somewhat prejudice. Smokers seem to believe they know all about rights because they feel something is being taken away. If you wish to kill yourself that is fine but it is not your right to take others with you. I believe that suicide should be legal, but not murder no matter how long it takes. have a great day...

Ahhhhh! An ex smoker that has turned anti. Wants everyone to be as miserable as he is.
You're right about if the product hadn't been made, I wouldn't smoke. No one would. But it was made and I do smoke. MY CHOICE. I don't even remember seeing cig commericials on TV, and I grew up during the 50's. I'm sure they were there, but children in those days were not addicted to TV.

Yes, Lady Teal I agree with you that it is your choice and I also have no problem with you smoking as long as it does not harm others including children. I too grew up in the fifties and yes cig commercials were on tv then, though we only got to watch tv for an hour or so each day. Somewhere after 20 years of " being miserable" and smoking 3 to 4 packs per day of non-filters I decided I did not need something which did nothing for me other then cut off my circulation and kept me freezing in cold weather and trouble breathing and coughing. I am not miserable now as I feel much better, thank you for asking. May you have a great day.. Just Me

quote:

Originally posted by Johnny T:
Yes, I also have no problem with you smoking as long as it does not harm others including children.

So TV not only influenced you to smoke, but it has also brainwashed you into believing the SHS junk science. You must be a really gullible person. I suggest you find a better way to spend your leisure time other than sitting in front of the TV. If you grew up during the 50's like I did, with 2 smokers in our house, and in the car when we went away; it must make you wonder why you're still alive? According to the antis, we should have died a long time ago? No?
By the way, my 82 year old Mom is still alive, still smoking, and in pretty good physical health.

You all have so much anger in you and yes I believe in the SHS issue as I have experienced I prefer not to have to smell the stuff at all as it offends me as much as you being told it offends others. As to being gullible I think it is the smokers who are gullible when they believe that it is not harmful. Why would you think putting the smok of burning leaves in your mouth and lungs would be good for you whether you like it or not. I am glad to hear that your 82 year old mom is in pretty good health. I prefer to be in very good to excellent health. My mother died at the age of 68 from emphysema which the doctors said was caused by her smoking for 40 years. I do not subscribe to the fact that everyone is affected the same by smoke but everyone is affected. Especialy children who are still developing, mentally and physically. There is much we do that causes our deaths and many die from a multitude of things not just smoking or drinking ot overeating or drugs or bullets etc. But killing ourselves, in many ways, so others can get rich off our stupidity should not be one of them. Respectfully;;;;

quote:

You all have so much anger in you

I beg to differ. You are the one that sounds angry. Why?

quote:

Especialy children who are still developing, mentally and physically.

If it's so bad for children, how come my brother, sister and I are still living?

quote:

There is much we do that causes our deaths and many die from a multitude of things not just smoking or drinking ot overeating or drugs or bullets etc. But killing ourselves, in many ways, so others can get rich off our stupidity should not be one of them.

You must be one of those people that think those who lead pristine lives will not die. Or they will live to a ripe old age, and just go to sleep some night and not wake up. And your Utopia is where?

Ah you assume far to much Ladyteal... I am not angry for I choose not to be angry, just observant. No one said that because it is bad for anyone that they will surely die young,

why are your brother and sister still living ?? I have no idea as I do not know them, possibly they have chosen not to die yet ??

I know of no one who lives a pristine life, but the older I get the more I realize that it is mostly up to me how long and how well I live. I am making better choices not because someone tells me too, but because I have learned to make those decisions on my own. I also tend to look at others opinions and then make my own choice based on judgement and not just rebellion..

quote:

but the older I get the more I realize that it is mostly up to me how long and how well I live.

Well we must agree to disagree on this one. I believe that a higher and more powerful Being is in control of my death. The longer I live, the more I believe this.

quote:

Originally posted by ladyteal:

Well we must agree to disagree on this one. I believe that a higher and more powerful Being is in control of my death. The longer I live, the more I believe this.

I prefer to believe in myself, as to a more powerful being then I yes, I would agree to that but one that is in control of my death, no for that would just make me a puppet on someone else's string. But I do believe that each of us is entitled to believe what he or she chooses onto themselves. You are entitled to your opinions and beliefs and as someone once said I will defend your right to that to my death, but I do not have to believe as you do. I may wish to hear your beliefs as I may find something that is a further truth to me and may aid me in learning to make my life better. I sense in you a believer of destiny, while I prefer to create my own destiny. Take care, I enjoy our debates here, for that is why I joined to hear others opinions and to state mine.