Statistics in a cloud of smoke

If Philip Morris commissioned research which found that the smoking ban in England & Wales, a year old today, had been a dismal failure many, perhaps even most, people would dismiss said research, considering it partial. Well they would say that wouldn’t they?

So why are figures* from anti-smoking organisations such as ASH or Cancer Research UK accepted uncritically? Maybe they are indeed sound but I see no great reason for ignoring the vested interests at play on their side of the dispute while pointing out those that might influence more tobacco-friendly findings.

*I should say that while I do indeed view the figures cited by Cancer Research with some scepticism, I also consider them irrelevant given that the arguments about smoking are primarily, as far as I’m concerned, about control, property rights and freedom rather than health.