SMOKING & RISK

Smoking poses a risk. This means it increases the probability that you will die sooner, or suffer from disease.
Passive smoking also poses a risk.
Driving a car poses a risk.
Being near people that are driving cars poses a risk.
Being near other people poses a risk.
Being far away from other people poses a risk.

Everything poses somekind of risk.

What is important is how much risk a certain activity poses to you and to others.Whether we should be allowed to cause or risk harm to ourselves depends on if we expect others to take risks if we need help. The extreme of this argument is whether suicide and euthanasia should be legal and in what circumstances.

How much risk our actions pose to others is fundamental to living in a society. It is unlikely that smoking can cause greater risks to others than driving a car. It is also unlikely that working in a smokey environment is more risky than working with explosives or dangerous machinery.

"We estimated that in 2000, 4.83 (uncertainty range 3.94-5.93) million premature deaths in the world were attributable to smoking" - Lancet. 2003 Sep 13;362(9387):847-52

Death caused by road traffic accidents in 2002 = 1 192 000 (The World Health Report, 2003, The World Health Organization)