Outside the courts, the industry is also fighting legislators' moves to restrict advertising and smoking in public places, as more and more medical studies reveal the dangers of passive smoking.

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Peers also heard questions on the death penalty, unpaid interns and passive smoking.

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"We already know that active and passive smoking has severe health implications, " said Phillipa Major, its assistant director of research.

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We humans are subject to hyperbolic discounting, not taking full account of long distant future costs for current pleasures, sometimes those running the public health system really do know more than us, there are externalities associated with these behaviours (late night drunks, passive smoking and the visual pollution of someone 300 lbs overweight perhaps).

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Worried about public health and the effects of passive smoking, ministers proposed a limited ban on smoking in restaurants and pubs serving food.

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The SCOTH report offers guidance on passive smoking, addiction and marketing of tobacco products.

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The poison emitted by passive smoking is minute and pales into insignificance when compared with the levels of carbon monoxide generated by aircraft, buses, trucks and cars.

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"Passive smoking is entirely avoidable and a private vehicle is one of the few places a child can still be legally exposed to tobacco smoke, " he said.

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Michael Siegel, professor of community health sciences at Boston University, wrote in the New York Times that the ban was "pointless" from a public health perspective and could, in fact, increase the risk of passive smoking by creating "smoke-filled areas" near park entrances.

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