John Stossel: Smoking in Your Home

ByABC News
November 28, 2001, 11:28 AM

Nov. 28 -- Smokers have been banned from the office, airplanes and restaurants. Isn't that enough?

Some politicians are trying to take legislation even further.

I don't particularly like the smell of smoke. But isn't your home your castle? Don't smokers at least get to smoke there?

Running Others' Lives

Montgomery County, Md., seems like a nice place to live. It certainly doesn't look like a police state. Then again, it's right next to Washington, D.C., where politicians get famous by running other people's lives.

Last week, the county council voted for a measure that would outlaw smoking at home if the smoke bothers a neighbor.

Last year, a town in this county passed a law that says: If you dare smoke outdoors, on the sidewalks, the streets, you'll have to pay a $100 fine. The mayor said his town must protect its residents from secondhand smoke.

"A couple of whiffs of smoke can set off a serious medical condition," Alfred Muller, then mayor of Friendship Heights, said in an interview last year. "And why should that be for someone that is a nonsmoker on their public area?"

Couldn't someone just move away from a smoker if they found it unpleasant?

"Because someone is in a minority that has a medical condition, they shouldn't be restricted in their use of the public area simply because they're a minority," said Muller.

But smokers are a minority, too. And are they getting a fair shake? Shouldn't they be allowed to do this outdoors?

I said to Muller, "You're another of these busybody politicians who want to tell other people how to live their lives."

"We're elected to promote the general welfare, and this is part of the general welfare," he said.

Exaggerated Claims

It's not surprising we fear secondhand smoke, given the publicity campaigns we've seen, including the anti-smoking ad that says the smoke from the tip of a cigarette is 20 times deadlier than what a smoker inhales.

Come on, that's only if you inhaled right from the tip. The claims about secondhand smoke are based on studies of people who've lived with smokers, who were inside with them for years. No studies have been done that show passive smoke hurts next-door neighbors or people outdoors.