On Friday, May 7, 2004, at 10:39 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
(-Michael Libby, Cleveland neighborhood )
Of the 3,000 who die each year from ETS exposure, how many live in Minneapolis? Maybe a handful.
I expect most people would want to prevent all smoke related deaths, not set a minimum of acceptable deaths.
From CDC -
(The 1995-1999 total) reflects the inclusion of 35,053 secondhand smoking-attributable heart disease deaths and slightly higher smoking-related RRs for cancers, respiratory diseases, and infant conditions. The number of smoking-attributable deaths would have been greater if smoking prevalence among men, women, and pregnant women had not declined since the early 1990s.
We have no recourse for children whose health is impacted by parental smoking. I cannot sue my mother because her smoking during my infancy may have caused me to require many ear operations as a child and ongoing complications as an adult ....
Smoking bans are an attempt to regulate consensual behavior on the part of adults. Saying that a smoking ban would protect children is disingenuous in the absence of more serious sanctions for parents who smoke at home around children.
C. United States Supreme Court Case Law
The United States Supreme Court has ruled that the harm to be considered
from secondhand smoke includes both present harm and possible future harm.
Accordingly, family courts have an unqualified duty to consider the dangers of
secondhand smoke to all children within their care, regardless of the condition of their
health. In Helling v. McKinney, the high Court ruled that a state prisoner’s complaint
stated a justiciable cause of action. The prisoner alleged that the secondhand smoke of
other inmates constituted an unreasonable risk to his health, involuntarily subjecting
him to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the
United States Constitution. The Court held that the prisoner’s claim was properly
based upon possible future harm to health as well as present harm.
Because children are like prisoners to the extent they are “captive” within the
homes of their parents, secondhand smoke is a danger to those
http://www.law.arizona.edu/Journals/ALR/ALR2003/vol453/Chinnock.pdf.
Personally I think this smoking ban discussion is distracting. Let's focus on a far more serious health threat: Motor vehicles. 43,000 people a year are killed by motor vehicles.
By serious do you mean total numbers killed or more serious threat to health?
During 1995--1999, smoking caused an annual average of 264,087 deaths among men and 178,311 deaths among women in the United States (CDC report).
Laura Waterman Wittstock MIGIZI Communications, Inc. 3123 East Lake Street Minneapolis, MN 55406 612.721.6631 ext 219 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.migizi.org REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait.
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