As anyone who has smoked knows, cigarette smoking is addictive. It impairs the decision making ability of the individual. That is why I do not smoke, but do take non-addictive mood-altering drugs (i.e., alcohol) periodically. As far as I know, mobile use for voice does not seem to have any addictive properties. The Koreans seem to think that the Internet has and have established some kind of organization to deal with it.

Smoking also has negative externalities, in that people who do not smoke but are in the proximity of smokers suffer negative health outcomes. There are a few negative externalities from having mobile users loudly spill out the gory details of their lives in one’s hearing, but that cannot be equated with contracting lung cancer.

Then what remains is the faint possibility (not proven by science in any way) of the mobile user getting his/her brain fried (if using the phone against the ear) or other vital body parts toasted if keeping the phone at waist level and using an earpiece. That is a choice; it should be respected. People eat bad stuff; do not exercise; go on pilgrimage to Kataragama on dangerous roads during tsunamis; etc. They do foolish things and they die. That is their inalienable right. We must respect that.

So I disagree that even a remote parallel exists between smoking and using mobile for voice. The only parallel seems to be government’s insatiable desire to tax the hell out of cigarettes in the past and mobile use in the present.

So would the vegetables you eat as it is full of pesticides and Chemical fertilizer, So would the vehicle you drive as it is emitting Lead and other hazardous material to Air, So would the electricity you consume, The clothes you wear, etc. etc. which get produced in factories around the world which emit CO2 causing Global Warming, etc. etc. etc.

So is taxing the way to save the world????

Or is it the way to fatten the politicians who do not give a damn????