Letter: Separating fact, fiction in smoke-free debate

Publication Date: 2005-02-14

• Author:Deborah Knuth
• Publication:Grand Forks (ND) Herald

Feb. 3 marked the first day of legislative hearings to discuss whether North Dakota should join the growing list of states providing workplace protection from toxic secondhand smoke, and the facts presented spoke a compelling "yes."

Of course, there were some predictable tobacco-industry-style attempts to derail the discussion into unrelated issues. But on the real subject - workplace protection from a known health hazard - the abundance of science-based testimony left no doubt in any listener's mind...

In the coming weeks, the tobacco-industry propaganda machine will probably be present to grind out its tired lies, but the facts will not change.