An Inclusive Litany

8/17/98

A federal judge has thrown out the results of a 1993 report by the Environmental Protection Agency that attributed 3,000 annual lung cancer deaths to secondhand tobacco smoke. The decision cited the agency's own internal records noting the study's methodological flaws, judging the study to be politically motivated. Indeed, the study was used to justify numerous local indoor-smoking bans, which would otherwise have been justifiable simply on the grounds of nuisance.