During the timespan of 1972-1995, there existed an Office of Technological Assessment. This office was created by the US congress in order to have a source of unbiased, scientific knowledge to have at their disposal. Basically, the OTA was formed as a balance to biased presidental science advisors, such as those of the Nixon, Reagan and latter Bush administrations. Unfortunately, the office was disbanded in 1995 and they never had a chance to check Bush's science advisors.
Why not bring this office back?
We need them desperately today in the US, where any science henchman can be hired to say that "global warming isn't real", or that "second-hand smoke is harmless". These high-profile counters to general scientific truths are impeding safety measures that could very well save our lives in years to come.
Some members of congress have been fighting for the past decade to bring back the OTA, but they're a minority that is easily trampled by a heard of blind donkeys and elephants. We need to put pressure on congress on local and national levels to form a new Office of Technology Assessment. I don't have a specific idea of how to get this done, but I'm hoping someone here does.
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I just voted "agree," but you should clarify your understanding of second-hand smoke. The studies that have found correlations were (I've read) between the spouse and a heavy smoker. Extrapolating this to and equivalent effect from casual contact with second-hand smoke in a restaurant is unwarranted.
I understand the long-term exposure effects of second-hand smoke to be worse than those of short-term exposure, but there are indeed short-term exposure effects for some people. Just catching a whiff of smoke from certain brands of cigarettes will give me a headache, and people with allergies or asthma can have reactions to small amounts of smoke.