In a transparent attempt to stave off further regulation of smoking, the tobacco industry has sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for deeming second-hand cigarette smoke a cancer risk to non-smokers.
The two cigarette manufacturers and four trade organizations filing suit want to nullify the EPA's classification of second-hand smoke as a carcinogen. They say the agency based its conclusion on flawed science and overlooked two recent studies discounting any link between second-hand smoke and lung cancer in non-smokers.There's no topping the purveyors of tobacco when it comes to running away from facts.
The plaintiffs' real agenda is self-evident. They hope to slow the momentum for broader smoking restrictions that gained strength after the EPA declared second-hand smoke to be dangerous. As workplaces, public buildings and even stadiums move to ban smoking, the tobacco business sees its future in doubt. Its lawsuit is a desperate attempt at self-preservation.
But what a morally bankrupt effort. Among the documents that the plaintiffs are circulating in a bid to drum up media sympathy are copies of the two studies they claim negate the EPA's conclusion. Trouble is, the studies do quite the opposite. Once you get past the summaries that put the tobacco industry's spin on things, you discover that this research demonstrates an increased risk of lung cancer for adult non-smokers exposed to tobacco smoke in their households over many years.
If those studies are the best evidence the tobacco industry can muster, then all the more reason this lawsuit deserves to be deep-sixed.