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Originally Posted by raveneye
There is in fact a consensus among the scientific community, from dozens of large, very thorough, and unquestioned studies.
The fact that a few studies funded by tobacco companies failed to find links is not at all surprising, and does nothing to contradict that consensus.
Further down in the linked article:
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That's the point, one study says one thing, another one says another thing. I don't think that banning everything that could be dangerous is the right way to solve anything.
But to take the "ban cigs for the employee's health!" argument, OSHA has established PEL's (Permissible Exposure Levels) for all measurable chemicals, Including 40 carcinogens in second hand smoke. PELs are levels of exposure for an 8-hour workday from which, according to OSHA, no harm will result.
"Field studies of environmental tobacco smoke indicate that under normal conditions, the components in tobacco smoke are diluted below existing Permissible Exposure Levels (PELS.) as referenced in the Air Contaminant Standard (29 CFR 1910.1000)...It would be very rare to find a workplace with so much smoking that any individual PEL would be exceeded."
--Letter From Greg Watchman, Acting Ass't Sec'y, OSHA, To Leroy J Pletten, PHD, July 8, 1997
That's for an 8 hour workday! By OSHA's standard, I don't think that hanging out in a bar for a couple hours once a week would measurably increase your risk of any long term health effects from second hand smoke (even if you're crammed in between smokers).