Originally Posted by
closetbiker
Isn't this a lot like the helmet debate? Worried about one (unlikely) thing and dealing with it via a piece of equipment that is suspect in it's effectiveness, while ignoring the same threat in a different setting that is just as pressing?
No, it's not and yes it is.
Wearing a helmet will decrease your chances of becoming a vegetable, just because you toppled over while trying to impress everyone doing a track stand at the light and hit your head on the curb.
Similarly, you can take care of the obvious links to oral cancer by quitting smoking and any other behaviours linked by science to oral cancers.
Let me tell you, as a 2-time "survivor" of oral cancer, that you do not want to go where I have been and where I now sit, with the after-effects of cancer treatment. I don't wear a mask or take many other precautions when I cycle (avs. 8500 km/py) If a survivor chooses to wear a mask or any other device, or stand on their heads drinking wheat grass, fearing a return to the agonies of cancer treatment, then I fully understand their choice.
I would say walk a mile in their shoes, but I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.