They say: 80% of smokers want to quit--so we're helping them do that.

The truth is: Although 82% of smokers told Gallup they wanted to quit, the sample was far too small to use for a conclusion about the entire smoking population. You probably haven't heard the "rest of the story:" In the same survey of 292 smokers, 77% said they felt they could quit when they were ready. The reason for discriminatory laws is punitive, not philanthropic.

They say: 435,000 premature deaths every year from smoking--smoking is the #1 cause of preventable death.

The truth is: If it is true, they certainly have no proof of it. The CDC's SAMMEC computer program is set to spit out numbers determined by a mathematical formula based on unproven assumptions and dependent on the honesty and bias of those who input the raw figures. Garbage in, garbage out.

They say: Smokers cost society billions of dollars in health care.

The truth is: When the research was done without the premise that nonsmokers would never die or be ill, smokers were proven to more than pay their way already, even as far back as 1994, partially because of the astronomical tax burden they shoulder and partly because they do (statistically) die earlier, saving the Social Security system end-of-life care.

They say: Secondhand smoke is the third leading cause of preventable death. Secondhand smoke causes 3000 annual deaths from lung cancer and 50,000 annual deaths from heart disease.

The truth is: Very few of the studies ever done on secondary smoke even came up to the statistical significance necessary to be acceptable as anything more than chance, confounding or researcher bias. Far more show no measurable harm at all. “…it is possible that very few or even no deaths can be attributed to ETS.” (p.55, 1995 Congressional Research Service report). In testimony before a Senate subcommittee, CRS concluded that "the statistical evidence does not appear to support a conclusion that there are substantial health effects of passive smoking." (p.7) The massive WHO IARC study of 1998 (contrary to their own "spin" on it) concluded that the risk to a nonsmoker living and working with smokers for an extended length of time (40-50 years) was still statistically insignificant. The connection between heart disease and secondary smoke has been made essentially by one research group headed by a self-described "anti-tobacco lunatic" using junk science, and no governmental agency has ever publicly acknowledged the accuracy of such a claim.

They say: Secondhand smoke causes asthma and other respiratory disease in children.

The truth is: As smoking has declined and fewer children than ever before are exposed to secondary smoke in the home, asthma and other respiratory diseases are skyrocketing. The doctor who wrote the EPA's chapter on shs and asthma has said: ""I assumed tobacco smoke and pollution were the problem -- this was the politically correct way to think. But these factors turned out not to play a major role."

They say: No one will be safe until tobacco use is wiped out worldwide.

The truth is: No one will be safe if these anti-freedom health zealots are allowed to run roughshod over the Constitution of the United States and the rights of its citizens.