The right to kill (yourself)

The British Medical Association wants to ban you smoking in your own car.

Since the passing of the Suicide Act in the1960s it has been legal for me to get a knife and slit my throat, or to jump off a cliff. The two ways I cannot kill myself are going through the windscreen of my car (because the busybodies make me wear a seat belt) and, increasingly, smoking. They say that the second hand smoke is dangerous, but of course if I am smoking in my car I am treating myself to first hand smoke and so won't be worried about that.

In fact the 'debate' on smoking in public places reached the low point of British science. They said second hand smoke was dangerous, without specifying how much of it was dangerous, how much the risk was reduced if the room was well ventilated, or, if a large room, how much the risk changed by proximity or otherwise to the smoker. They didn't give any of this data, essential to forming a view on the subject, either because they didn't know or because it was unsuitable for their position in the argument.

They just don't want you to smoke. Some of them say it is because the National Health Service has to treat you, but if that were the problem we would have banned homosexuality because gays are more likely to get AIDS. No, it is just bigotry: they want you to conform to what they do.