Book Forum 

# *Unlucky Strike: Private Health and the Science, Law and Politics of Smoking*

(University of Buckingham Press, 2014)

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Date and Time 

May 13, 2014 12 - 1:30 PM EDT 

Location 

Policy Center with Foyer 

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##### Featuring 

Featuring the author **John Staddon**, James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Professor of Biology and Neurobiology, Emeritus, Duke University; moderated by **David Boaz**, Executive Vice President, Cato Institute. 

[ [![Media Name: unlucky-strike.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/optimized/public/images/unlucky-strike.jpg?itok=J1u0mT9w)](/sites/cato.org/files/images/unlucky-strike.jpg) 

Purchase Book](http://www.amazon.com/Unlucky-Strike-Private-Science-Politics/dp/1908684372/?tag=catoinstitue-20)

Smoking is risky for smokers, but is it bad for the rest of us? Science says no. Those who die from smoking tend to die close to retirement age. Lifetime medical costs for smokers are less than for nonsmokers. The risk to others of secondhand smoke is impossible to measure and is probably negligible. In short, smokers are not a public cost. So why are they over-taxed, dissed, and discriminated against in so many ways? A good question, examined at length in *Unlucky Strike* by John Staddon, author of more than 200 scientific papers, with original illustrations by the renowned artist David Hockney.

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This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).