Tobacco Sceptic
In 1995 Minchin submitted a dissenting Senate report on the tobacco industry and the costs of tobacco-related illness that disputed the Committee's statements that it believes cigarettes are addictive and that passive smoking is harmful. Minchin claimed the tobacco industry was over-regulated. He also disagreed with the conclusions about the addictiveness of nicotine and the harmfulness of passive smoking:
Senator Minchin wishes to record his dissent from the committee's statements that it believes cigarettes are addictive and that passive smoking causes a number of adverse health effects for non-smokers. Senator Minchin believes these claims (the harmful effects of passive smoking) are not yet conclusively proved ... there is insufficient evidence to link passive smoking with a range of adverse health effects.
— Nick Minchin, Senate Committee's Minority Report on Tobacco-related Illnesses
A 2009 article in The Australian drew parallels between his stance on tobacco and his stance as a climate change skeptic.
Read more about this topic: Nick Minchin
Famous quotes containing the words tobacco and/or sceptic:
“My excuse for not lecturing against the use of tobacco is, that I never chewed it; that is a penalty which reformed tobacco-chewers have to pay; though there are things enough I have chewed which I could lecture against.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I know too much to be a sceptic and too little to be a dogmatist.”
—Pierre Bayle (1647–1706)