Quote:
|
Originally Posted by ian@huth
The problem with banning smoking on health issues because it may be the single pursuit that causes most premature deaths is that something else takes it place as the highest killer. That may be alcohol so do we then ban alcohol from all public places and pubs then only serve non-alcoholic drinks?
|
Ian, that has to be one of the most thoroughly illogical things I have read on this forum in quite some time. If we decide not to act on something because it may in the future mean we have to act on something else, then we might as well tear up every piece of health and safety legislation ever passed in this country!
I'm not afraid to allow alcohol to come under the spotlight at some point in the future - personally I don't think it requires a ban; unlike smoking, the dangers of alcohol have been understood for millennia and by and large we cope with them pretty well. Smoking, on the other hand, has been understood to be dangerous for something like 50 years at most and so in historical terms we are still in the very early stages of reversing the tide of addiction.
Plus, of course, smoking is not only slightly more injurious to health than alcohol, it is a whole order of magnitude worse. If health and safety issues continue to extend at their current rate, no-one will be looking for a ban on alcohol (whose sale and consumption, by the way, is currently *more* restrictive than tobacco) any time this century.