The EPA and Anti-tobacco Zealots Essay - 1293 Words

The EPA and Anti-tobacco Zealots Tobacco smoking has been one of the hot controversies of our time. Many people find tobacco smoke annoying, smelly and just plain dirty and unpleasant. Some smokers themselves agree with that sentiment. Todays smoking restrictions, not to mention the attack on smokers and extortion of tobacco companies, could not have been engineered simply on the grounds that tobacco smoke is unpleasant. We needed another reason. So the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) literally manufactured, using bogus science, the finding that second-hand smoke is a class A carcinogen causing death and illness for tens of thousands of people who are simply around tobacco smoke. The major news media, along with anti-tobacco†¦show more content†¦This impossibility of making interpersonal utility comparisons is applicable to most well-being type comparisons. For example, suppose there is a beautiful lady that both Jim and Bob are pursuing. If Jim wins her hand, Bob is harmed and if Bob wins her hand, J im is harmed. There is no scientific way anyone can determine whose harm is more important and should take precedence over the other. In a socialistic society, conflicting harms are resolved through government intimidation and coercion. In a free society, conflicting harms are settled through the institution of private property rights. Private property rights has to do with rights, belonging to the person deemed owner of property and protected by the state, to keep, acquire, use and dispose of property as he deems fit so long as he does not violate the property rights of another. Therefore, in a free society, whether smoking harms others or not is irrelevant. The relevant issue is who owns the air? It is clear that if you own the air, it is your right to decide how it is used. If you do not want tobacco smoke in your air, that is your right that government should protect. By the same token, if I own the air, I have rights just as you do to decide how it is used. If I want to have tobacco smoke in my air, I have every right to do so and theShow MoreRelated Using Nazi Tactics Against Smokers936 Words   |  4 PagesI, Jewish-American publications were investigated and prosecuted by the U.S. Government for writing favorably about Germany, a nation at war with the U.S. Much of German history has been one of racial toleration. This is partially seen by their anti-slavery positions in Brazil and the United States. In the United States, Germans had a large hand in assisting runaway slaves by way of the underground railroad. Germans also had an established reputation of getting along very well with American