Simon Clark - Taking Liberties

Hot off the press.

The British Medical Association has just issued the following news release:

Headline: CORRECTION TO BMA briefing paper: Smoking in vehicles – press release issued on Tuesday 15 November 2011 (publication date – 16 November 2011)

Please note, there is an error in the BMA briefing paper: Smoking in vehicles. On page 4, in the 3rd paragraph, the following sentence is incorrect:

“Further studies demonstrate that the concentration of toxins in a smoke-filled vehicle is 23 times greater than that of a smoky bar, even under realistic ventilation conditions”. a, 17, 18, 19

THIS SENTENCE HAS BEEN REPLACED WITH: "Further studies demonstrate that the concentration of toxins in a smoke-filled vehicle could be up to 11 times greater than that of a smoky bar”.

We apologise for this error.

How embarrassing.

Still no definition of a "smoky bar", though. Nor indeed what they mean by a "smoke-filled vehicle".

When was the last time you a smoke-filled vehicle? I thought so.

H/T Patrick Hayes

Update on Thursday, November 17, 2011 at 18:31 by

Simon Clark

Chris Snowdon has also blogged about it. He writes:

Aside from removing the now-notoriously fictitious "23 times" claim, it is significant that the BMA has removed all reference to "realistic conditions". As I have said before, when experiments have been conducted in realistic conditions (ie. with one or more windows at least partially open), the amount of secondhand smoke in a moving vehicle is much lower than in a smoky bar. When all windows are closed and the ventilation is turned off, however, concentrations are higher than in a smoky bar. Of course they are. Cars are smaller than bars. That's why people who smoke in a car open the window.

See: BMA retracts claim about smoking in cars