Perfect being the enemy of the good

Great WSJ article - https://www.wsj.com/article_email/big-tobacco-finds-surprise-allies-in-smokeless-push-1500629402-lMyQjAxMTI3MjI5MzEyMzM0Wj/?mg=prod/accounts-wsj

Many scientists agree that moist, smokeless tobacco, including chewing and dipping tobacco, is significantly less harmful than cigarettes. But rather than encouraging the country’s 37 million smokers to switch to less-risky products, U.S. health officials have so far stuck with an abstinence-only message to the public.

Online fact sheets published by the Centers for Disease Control, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Cancer Institute list multiple health risks associated with smokeless tobacco—including cancers of the mouth, esophagus, and pancreas—but give no indication it is less harmful than cigarettes. “There is no safe form of tobacco,” the cancer institute says on its website.

I think we have an all or nothing tendency which can be harmful.  This is another case of the perfect being the enemy of the good.