On its website, Action on Smoking and Health makes a number of claims regarding smoking, including that the very breath and smell of smokers, even when they are not smoking, can be extremely hazardous to people's health.

ASH's Health Claims | Professor Brad Rodu | Professor Michael Siegel | Professor Carl Phillips

ASH.org's Health Claims

1. 30 minutes of exposure to drifting tobacco smoke can trigger a fatal heart attack.

ASH states that: "...someone else’s smoke can kill you if even if you can barely smell it, and even if you can’t smell it."

2. E Cigarettes pose dangers for both smokers and non-smokers.

According to ASH, electronic cigarettes are dangerous both for smokers and non-smokers.

3. Third hand smoke can pose serious risks for non-smokers.

Proven or not, this claim has been used to:

There is a press release today: ASH Stops E-Cigarette Bullies; Mid-East Moves Against E-Cigarettes that I just had to stop and comment on. The more I read the propaganda John Banzhaf puts out the less respect I have for him and his organization. But this one is some of his finest spin yet. Let's tear it down.

It seems that E Cigarette Direct wrote a letter to the editor of the Peninsula, a news publication in Qatar that had written an article critical of electronic cigarettes when reporting the new ban the kingdom had placed on their import. The company wished them to correct some of the inaccuracies contained within that article.

You'd think the guy who sues companies like McDonald's and Big Tobacco for false advertising would support such an action, after all if the press is going to write about it, it should be true, right? But, Mr. Banzhaf chose instead to write the publication and encourage them not to retract the story and sent out a press release with a few of his own half truths to let the world know he'd done it.

Let's take some points one by one. 

ASH recently stood up to an e-cigarette company which tried to bully a newspaper into retracting a story critical of their product. There was no retraction, and imports of the product are being banned nearby.

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