In 2006 I noted that Surgeon General Richard Carmona's description of the hazards posed by secondhand tobacco smoke was so hyperbolic that it made smoking seem safe by comparison. Last week his successor, Regina Benjamin, continued the shameless fearmongering with a press release warning that "exposure to tobacco smoke—even occasional smoking or secondhand smoke—causes immediate damage to your body that can lead to serious illness or death." The doctor in the sailor suit elaborates:

"The chemicals in tobacco smoke reach your lungs quickly every time you inhale, causing damage immediately," Benjamin said in releasing the report. "Inhaling even the smallest amount of tobacco smoke can also damage your DNA, which can lead to cancer."… Even brief exposure to secondhand smoke can cause cardiovascular disease and could trigger acute cardiac events, such as heart attack.

The press release, which accompanied the latest surgeon general's report on smoking, generated predictably panicky headlines like these:

Here are a few follow-up questions these reporters might have asked:

1. What percentage of people who smoke just one cigarette die as a result? Has this outcome ever been observed in the world outside of surgeon general's press releases?

2. How would one establish a safe level of smoking? If it is impossible to falsify the statement that "no amount of smoking is safe," can it count as a scientific conclusion, as opposed to an article of faith?

3. If brief exposure to small amounts of secondhand smoke causes heart disease and cancer, why do these conditions take so long to develop in smokers?

4. Is there any difference in risk between a whiff of secondhand smoke or a single puff on a cigarette and a pack-a-day habit? How big is that difference?

5. How do the risks of "just one cigarette" compare to the risks of swimming, riding a bicycle, driving to work, or sitting in the sun?

Since the surgeon general did not address these questions, I'll let Michael Siegel, a physician and longtime anti-smoking activist who is a professor of public health at Boston University, assess her dire warnings: