The right of smokers to smoke ends where their behavior affects the health and well-being of others.
Interpretation
Smokers' rights should not compromise the health of non-smokers.
This quote by C. Everett Koop emphasizes the boundary between individual freedoms and the collective well-being of society. While smokers have the right to smoke, that right is limited when their actions negatively impact the health of those around them, highlighting the importance of considering the health of the community in discussions about personal liberties.
In practice
In a public health seminar discussing the effects of secondhand smoke.
When a faith-healer commands God to perform a miracle, in the absence of a prayer that says, 'Thy will be done,' it is, as far as I am concerned, the most rank form of arrogance . . . The faith-healer Bosworth once said that faith makes God act. If you follow that line of reasoning God is in His heaven, but Bosworth rules the world!
Your choice of diet can influence your long term health prospects more than any other action you might take.
When a child shows up for school, and is not physically and mentally ready to learn, he or she never catches up.
The health care industry can play a great role in this by being aware of the fact that these children form perhaps the most neglected group of people in the country, largely because it is hard to find them.
Cigarette smoking is clearly identified as the chief, preventable cause of death in our society.
Life affords no greater responsibility, no greater privilege, than the raising of the next generation
We are an overfed and undernourished nation digging an early grave with our teeth.
HIV infection and AIDS is growing - but so too is public apathy. We have already lost too many friends and colleagues.
It's a disgrace that we have millions of people who are uninsured.
The term “starvation diet” refers to 900 calories a day. I was on one-third of a starvation diet. What do you call that? One word that comes to my mind: “suicide.
Addiction is a chronic disease of the brain and it's one that we have to treat the way we would any other chronic illness: with skill, with compassion and with urgency.
Health cannot be bought at the supermarket. You have to invest in health. You have to get kids into schooling. You have to train health staff. You have to educate the population.
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