As more and more companies are refusing to hire smokers - both to save over $10,000/yr per employee, and because employing smokers sends the wrong message - the major argument in opposition doesn’t really attack the practice itself, but bemoans that it will inevitably spread to the obese.
But public interest law professor John Banzhaf, who helped start and encourage the movement, and helped defend it in court, suggests that there are many reasons why smoking Virginia is very different from obesity.
First, obesity’s official classification by the government as a “disease” (for tax and Medicare purposes), and as a “health status” (for health insurance purposes), might make it legally difficult, whereas smoking, classified only as a “behavior,” enjoys no such legal protection.
People who have quitted the habit of smoking OK may also enhance the level of good cholesterol in their body, despite the small weight gain.
