Make sure you read between the lines… Or in this case, read the actual lines before allowing anybody to start touting this study as “evidence” that supports smoking bans.
While the study (which we are going to get our hands on to take apart anyway) claims a drop in asthma visits in Lexington, KY after they implemented their smoking ban. However, and this is important, in a rare bit of honesty, this is said by the study’s head:
However, Hahn said it cannot be positively stated that the ban was responsible for the decline.
Hahn says her study was partially funded by an institute established as a result of a class action lawsuit against the tobacco industry.
So remember this the next time somebody shoves a study in your face and says “see!” There is always more to the story than we’re often told.
Filed under: health issues, reality check | Tagged: asthma study, lexington smoking ban, smoking bans
Just remember that these “SHS and asthma” studies are ultimately downright silly. Asthmatics are super sensitive to smoke–any kind of smoke. They can’t be around incense, wood-burning stoves and fireplaces, campfires, auto repair shops, or even auto racetracks. Any asthmatic should know they shouldn’t spend any significant amount of time in smoker-friendly bars. That’s like someone with a peanut allergy taking a tour of the Butterfinger factory.
The question at hand is whether SHS threatens the life or health of ordinary, healthy nonsmokers. The vast weight of the evidence tells me that the answer is a resounding “NO”.
[...] Posted on August 25, 2008 by Ryan OK, I called it. I called it on 8/14 when I said “read the actual lines before allowing anybody to start touting this study as [...]
[...] will find yet another study brought to you by the same activist Ellen J. Hahn that brought you the Glantz type asthma study with no control group when, we all know that even though the smoking rate and ETS exposure rate has [...]