Anti-smokers still shoot blanks
The Las Vegas Sun published an article on the effects of second-hand smoke in casinos, writing,
Anti-smoking advocates hailed the results of the long-awaited study, which mirror previous government and privately funded research on secondhand smoke and are expected to provide ammunition to those pressuring the gaming industry to implement smoking bans.
But if it is ammunition the anti-smoking zealots are after then they're still left firing blanks
The report concludes:
[Non-poker] casino dealers reported higher prevalence of respiratory symptoms compared to administrative and engineering employees, but the differences in the prevalence between the groups were not statistically significant.
Translation: There was no statistically significant difference in respiratory symptoms between those who worked in the smoking areas and those who worked in the non-smoking areas. Scientifically speaking, there is a good chance those respiratory problems occurred at random, too strong a chance to lay the blame on second-hand smoke.
Unfortunately, the Las Vegas Sun missed this key finding in the report.
Yes, smoking can be harmful, but so can driving to work, swimming in your pool or eating food that actually tastes good. Next on the list of things for do-gooders to ban:
Hamburgers
Pizza
Trampolines
Pools
Scooters
Skateboards
Gassy foods
Water guns
Sushi
Mongolian BBQ
Cooking at home
Pogo Sticks
Fun
The study can be found here:
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/hhe/reports/pdfs/2005-0201-3080.pdf
