'More Than Libertarians Concerned': It Must Be a Real Issue

Bernadine Healy, former director of the National Institutes of Health and now health editor at U.S. News & World Report, comes out against car smoking bans aimed at protecting children from exposure to secondhand smoke (one of the "nanny government" measures mentioned in the Inside Bay Area story I discussed earlier today). "This particular anti-smoking campaign has more than libertarians concerned that government is going too far in policing behavior and trouncing privacy," she writes. "Next, the health police could ticket parents for buying children junk food or for letting them get too much sun at the beach." She also argues that the bans will fail to improve children's health, unwisely divert police resources, and disproportionately affect women of modest means.

 [via The Rest of the Story]