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TOBACCO, LAWYERS, AND PUBLIC HEALTH: Jonathan M. Samet and Thomas A. Burke Turning Science Into Junk: The Tobacco Industry and Passive Smoking Am J Public Health 2001; 91: 1742-1744 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]

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"Junk decisions" by local lawmakers

Sharon Brown   (3 December 2001)

"Junk decisions" by local lawmakers 3 December 2001
Sharon Brown, Researcher University of California - Irvine Send letter to journal: Re: "Junk decisions" by local lawmakers spbrown{at}uci.edu Sharon Brown	As a researcher of children's perceptions of risk to tobacco use and exposures, I read with unfortunate agreement Samet & Burke's statement that "sound science" is often used for delayed policy decisions related to the harm from tobacco exposures. In a recent town council decision in Oro Valley, AZ [suburb of Tucson], the lawmakers justified their passage of a one of the weakest city smoking ordinances of our time by stating that more "sound science" was needed to document the "true harm" of being in public facility with smokers, especially for children accompanying their parents to these locations. Curiously, this "non-action" occurred after the city of Tucson, (and only one day after the county of Pima), had passed restrictive ordinances of their own based on "sound science." Apparently, the dissemination of "sound science" can be readily roadblocked by industry influences on "good business."