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To: Original Mad Dog who wrote (6686)	4/9/2003 4:41:47 PM
From: TimF	Respond to of 7689

How about the right to a safe working environment? Should one have to choose to increase their risk of cancer (i.e., death) by taking a job? If smoking is that massive of environmental hazard then it should be banned. I don't think it rises to that level. And I don't think there is some special natural right to a safe working environment that goes beyond the general right to a reasonably safe (you can never be perfectly safe) environment in general. I don't care if I am exposed to something unsafe at work, at home, outside, or in a bar, if it is unsafe it is unsafe. If its truly unsafe enough to ban from my home then I can see banning it everywhere but I don't think it is unsafe enough for a general government ban. In another related context, should employers not be required to provide a safe environment for workers at all? What if you own a machine tool shop and a machine has an inherent defect where a belt slips and causes a worker to be chopped into little pieces (i.e., death) every few years. I don't think the risk is comparable. Also life is dangerous there should be an expectation of some effort to minimize deadly risks but should racing cars or boats or planes, or climbing mountains or parachuting be banned because they are dangerous. I think the risks to the extent they are known should be mentioned and an effort should be made to reduce them (in the case of smoking, non smoking sections would be a reasonably effort, with car racing mandating safety equipment would be reasonable) but I don't think dangerous activities should be banned. Tim