From Kansas Watchdog:

Opponents to a statewide total smoking ban say anti-tobacco advocates are playing a little loose with their facts.
They have an unlikely ally in Michael Siegel, a medical doctor and professor of community health sciences at Boston University’s School of Public Health. He’s a long-standing anti-tobacco advocate, a proponent of smoking bans and a strong critic of bad science.
In a story published Feb. 18 on his weblog, “The rest of the Story: Tobacco News Analysis and Commentary,” Seigel wrote, “It is irresponsible to disseminate conclusions that are not supported by any scientific evidence, especially if that information will be used to infringe upon the freedom, autonomy, and rights of individuals.”
“I believe that anti-smoking groups have been recently exaggerating the evidence in several ways,” Siegel said during a phone interview Wednesday. “To me, the truth is enough. I really don’t understand why these groups are exaggerating when I think it would be enough to tell the truth.”
“A lot of groups have been saying that 30 minutes of exposure to secondhand hand smoke is enough to cause heart disease. I think that’s an exaggeration. It’s not true that somebody walks into a smoky restaurant for thirty minutes and they’re going to suffer a heart attack.”
The proposed ban would not exempt bars and other gathering spots for adult smokers
Another exaggerated claim Siegel sees is that passing a smoking ban will immediately and dramatically reduce heart attacks. “The evidence shows that in countries which have enacted these bans, they haven’t seen a decline in heart attacks within one or two years of the ban,” Siegel said.
The third claim Siegel objects to is called third-hand smoking. Some smoking ban advocates say nicotine left on a person’s clothing and skin is deposited on the surfaces away from the smoking area then create vapor that exposes non-smokers to harm. “I think that’s just a gross exaggeration, and the levels of exposure are so small that it’s not creating any meaningful hazard,”
Siegel says credibility is the key to changing public attitudes about health. “Once we start exaggerating the evidence and the public becomes aware of this they’re going to lose trust in everything that we say.”
Proponents of a statewide total ban on public smoking came under fire at a recent Health and Human Services committee meeting of the Kansas House of Representatives. Committee Chair Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, and other committee members challenged smoking ban advocates claims about studies used to support a ban.