“Of those chemicals present in ETS (Environmental Tobacco Smoke) only a very few of them can be classified as toxins or carcinogens. Some basic physics, a bit of chemistry and a series of rather simple mathematical calculations reveal that exposure to ETS is hardly a dangerous event.” –Michael R. Fox, Nuclear scientist and university chemistry professor
Pro-ban advocates often make the claim that secondhand smoke contains thousands of chemicals. They do this because “thousands of chemicals” can itself sound scary, but note that coffee contains over 1000 chemicals, 19 of which are known to be rat carcinogens. Your average daily diet contains roughly 10,000 chemicals. Human bodies are made of chemicals.
Even the Surgeon General has said that very few of the chemicals found within SHS could be considered toxic, even if their levels were a hundred or even a thousand times greater than the microscopic levels found in real-world environments.
Our common-sense solution to Michigan’s smoking ban will make the air in exempted areas safer by ensuring it meets or exceeds EPA standards for good to moderate air quality and is within the healthy range of the EPA scale.
The Michigan Compromise Coalition 