Surgeon General's Report on Secondhand Smoke:
Study Cites 'Indisputable' Evidence
Against Secondhand Smoke
THOMAS H MAUGH II & ERIN CLINE
Los Angeles Times 27jun2006
[Report available at: www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/secondhandsmoke]
Twenty years after the first surgeon general's report on secondhand smoke, the evidence is now "indisputable" that the noxious fumes are a major health threat that kill an estimated 50,000 people each year, a new federal study said Tuesday.
There is no level of exposure to smoke that is safe and the children of smokers are at special risk, Surgeon General Richard H. Cremona said in releasing the new report.
"I am here to say the debate is over, the science is clear," Cremona said during a televised news conference from Washington. "Secondhand smoke is not a mere annoyance. It is a serious health hazard."
Studies in the two decades since the first federal report confirm that secondhand smoke is linked not only to heart disease and lung cancer, but also to breast cancer, childhood cancer, nasal sinus cancer, ear infections and asthma. Recent results also have shown a clear link to sudden infant death syndrome.
The only way to combat the heath threat, he said, was to follow the lead of some states and ban all smoking in public buildings.
The report estimated that about 30 percent of indoor workers are not protected by smoke-free laws.
Although government cannot ban smoking in private homes, Cremona added, he strongly encouraged parents to step outside before lighting up in order to protect the health of their children.
"So many children are exposed in the home," said Thomas Glynn of the American Cancer Society. "If we do nothing else, we need to protect children because they are more vulnerable and the effects are lifetime effects."
For everyone else, Cremona said, the best advice is simply "stay away from smokers."
Among the report's major conclusions:
- Exposure of nonsmokers to tobacco smoke increases their risk of heart
disease and cancer by as much as 30 percent.
- Even a brief exposure to tobacco smoke can increase risk, especially for
people with heart and respiratory diseases.
- Segregating smokers is not an effective technique for preventing exposure
of nonsmokers, and even the best available technology does not cleanse the
air adequately.
- There is no evidence that smoke-free laws have significant reduced sales at bars and restaurants in cities where they are enforced.
Between 1988 and 2002, the report said that the percentage of adult nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke has been halved to about 43 percent. That exposure was determined by measuring blood levels of a key nicotine metabolite called cotinine.
Even among those exposed, the median level of cotinine has dropped by about 70 percent.
About one in five children have been exposed to secondhand smoke at home and their cotinine levels are twice as high as those in adults.
Tobacco smoke contains at least 50 separate carcinogens and toxins, experts noted. Someone in a closed space with a smoker breathes in exactly the same chemicals as the smoker does. The fact that the nonsmoker is breathing in less of them than the smoker reduces the risk, compared to smoking, but does not eliminate it.
The findings of the new report will come as no surprise to scientists and physicians. It is simply a compilation of research that has been conducted over the past two decades.
Nonetheless, experts hope it will galvanize public sentiment in much the same way that the 1964 Surgeon General's report on smoking and health did, accelerating the momentum toward an extension of so-called smoke-free laws to cover the estimated 126 million nonsmokers who are now unprotected.
"The disease and death caused by secondhand smoke is not only alarming -- it is completely preventable," said Dr. Ron Davis, president-elect of the American Medical Association. "No one should be exposed to secondhand smoke's harmful effects."
The report, added John R. Seffrin, chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society, "should end any lingering debate over the importance of enacting comprehensive smoke-free laws. ... The only way to protect people from secondhand smoke is to eliminate their exposure."
The report is available online at www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/secondhandsmoke/.
source: http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-smoking28jun28,0,5670947,print.story?coll=la-home-headlines 27jun2006
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