> They showed the link between smoking and cancer with a mountain of empirical evidence, including tests on mice.

Yes, it does now. From what I've seen, people complain about how long it took for official action in labeling to take place on tobacco smoking, but it's up to them how much effort they want to put into preventing a repeat situation. For a somewhat related example, some people think the FDA puts so much effort into preventing a repeat of thalidomide that it's a net negative for the entire organization to exist at all, and suggest expanding the category of "legal but not (effectively) mandated" to include almost all proposed drugs. "Never again" is much harder and more costly than many people think, because you have to get it right (or err in the direction of preventing the type of outcome in question) every single time, but if a single thing gets through, it's all over.

Make your decisions as rationally as possible.

> I suggest a war on ice cream.

Ice cream has some pretty funny statistics that I don't really buy as making actual sense. I'd limit usage quite heavily.

>Nobody cares anymore.

This really depends on the context. Note the various news articles currently going around that highlight the increased scrutiny Musk faced when he smoked weed publicly on a podcast. It’s still federally illegal and that can still come with very real consequences.