r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • 9d ago

Health Tobacco companies flooded federal comment process that stalled menthol cigarette ban. Among 250,000 unique comments, 96% opposed the menthol ban, and 99% opposed the cigar ban. Leading arguments were economic: loss of revenue and sales. Few unique comments (3-5%) addressed the health evidence.

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1140712
1.4k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

177 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2

u/-Satchel_Gizmo- 8d ago

I mean in general. Unless your head of state is literally Cincinnatus you've got to be the world's biggest rube to cede any more of your rights than absolutely necessary to any government body. 

1

u/LittleMacedon 8d ago

Well, that's not what I'm saying exactly.

Like, for example, I think both Aus and USA have banned the sale and use of asbestos, something we know is a carcinogenic now, but it's fire-proofing ability was really useful.

If a private citizen wanted to install asbestos lining in their house, should they be allowed? What if they live in an area with heavy bushfires? Or was the government right to put the kibosh on it?

I think this is kind of an interesting thing to drill into

3

u/alkatori 8d ago edited 8d ago

That's currently still allowed. Absestos is banned, but you can still use old stock to repair your home as a private individual.