Surgeon general: No safe level of secondhand smoke

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Surgeon general: No safe level of secondhand smoke

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/06/27/involuntary.smoking.ap/

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

 

Surgeon general: No safe level of secondhand smoke

 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Steer clear of smokers and any of their drifting fumes.

That's the advice of the surgeon general, who on Tuesday declared the debate

about the dangers of secondhand smoke over.

 

" The science is clear: Secondhand smoke is not a mere annoyance but a serious

health hazard, " said Richard Carmona.

 

There is no safe level of secondhand smoke -- even a few minutes inhaling

someone else's smoke harms nonsmokers, he found. And separate smoking sections,

even the best ventilated ones, don't protect enough. Carmona called for

completely smoke-free buildings and public places to lessen what he termed

" involuntary smoking. " (Watch surgeon general describe risk -- 3:18

http://www.cnn.com/video/player/detect.exclude.html?url=/video/health/2006/06/27\

/sot.carmona.second

hand.smoke.cnn )

 

More than 126 million nonsmoking Americans are regularly exposed to someone

else's tobacco smoke, and tens of thousands die each year as a result,

concludes the 670-page study. It cites " overwhelming scientific evidence " that

secondhand smoke causes heart disease, lung cancer and a list of other

illnesses.

 

The report is sure to fuel efforts by states and cities to ban smoking in

workplaces and other public spaces. Seventeen states and more than 400 towns,

cities and counties have passed strong no-smoking laws.

 

But public smoking bans don't reach inside private homes, where just over one

in five children breathes their parents' smoke -- and youngsters' still

developing bodies are especially vulnerable. Secondhand smoke puts children at

risk

of sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, as well as bronchitis, pneumonia,

worsening asthma attacks, poor lung growth and ear infections, the report

found.

 

Carmona implored parents who can't kick the habit to smoke outdoors, never in

a house or a car with a child. Opening a window to let the smoke out won't

protect them. Read

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/06/20/parental.smoking.reut/index.html

 

" Stay away from smokers, " he urged everyone else.

 

Repeatedly questioned about how the Bush administration would implement his

findings, Carmona would pledge only to publicize the report in hopes of

encouraging anti-smoking advocacy. Passing anti-smoking laws is up to Congress

and

state and local governments, he said.

 

" My job is to make sure we keep a light on this thing, " he said.

 

Still, public health advocates said the report should accelerate an already

growing movement toward more smoke-free workplaces.

 

" This could be the most influential surgeon general's report in 15 years, "

said Matthew Myers of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. " The message to

governments is: The only way to protect your citizens is comprehensive

smoke-free

laws. "

 

The report won't surprise doctors. It isn't a new study but a compilation of

the best research on secondhand smoke done since the last surgeon general's

report on the topic in 1986, which declared secondhand smoke a cause of lung

cancer that kills 3,000 nonsmokers a year.

 

Since then, scientists have proved that even more illnesses are triggered or

worsened by secondhand smoke. Topping that list: More than 35,000 nonsmokers a

year die from heart disease caused by secondhand smoke.

 

Regular exposure to someone else's smoke increases by up to 30 percent the

risk of a nonsmoker getting heart disease or lung cancer, Carmona found.

 

Some tobacco companies acknowledge the risks. But R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.,

which has fought some of the smoking bans, challenges the new report's call

for complete smoke-free zones and insists the danger is overblown.

 

" Bottom line, we believe adults should be able to patronize establishments

that permit smoking if they choose to do so, " said RJR spokesman David Howard.

 

And a key argument of some business owners' legal challenges to smoking bans

is that smoking customers will go elsewhere, cutting their profits.

 

But the surgeon general's report concludes that's not the case. It cites a

list of studies that found no negative economic impact from city and state

smoking bans -- including evidence that New York City restaurants and bars

increased business by almost 9 percent after going smoke-free.

 

To help make the point, Carmona's office videotaped mayors of smoke-free

cities and executives of smoke-free companies, including the founder of the

Applebee's restaurant chain, saying that business got better when the haze

cleared.

 

In addition to the scientific report, Carmona issued advice for consumers and

employers Tuesday:

 

•Choose smoke-free restaurants and other businesses, and thank them for going

smoke-free.

 

•Don't let anyone smoke near your child. Don't take your child to restaurants

or other indoor places that allow smoking.

 

•Smokers should never smoke around a sick relative.

 

•Employers should make all indoor workspace smoke-free and not allow smoking

near entrances, to protect the health of both customers and workers, and offer

programs to help employees kick the habit.

 

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

www.cnn.com

Surgeon general: No safe level of secondhand smoke

 

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Separate smoking sections don't cut it: Only smoke-free

buildings and public places truly protect nonsmokers from the hazards of

breathing in other people's tobacco smoke, says a long-awaited surgeon general's

report.

 

Some 126 million nonsmokers are exposed to secondhand smoke, what U.S.

Surgeon General Richard Carmona repeatedly calls " involuntary smoking " that puts

people at increased risk of death from lung cancer, heart disease and other

illnesses.

 

Moreover, there is no risk-free level of exposure to someone else's drifting

smoke, declares the report issued Tuesday -- a conclusion sure to fuel already

growing efforts at public smoking bans nationwide. Fourteen states have

passed what are considered

comprehensive smoke-free workplace laws, those that include restaurants and

bars.

 

But the surgeon general is especially concerned about young children who

can't escape their parents' addiction in search of cleaner air. Just over one in

five children is exposed to secondhand smoke at home, where workplace bans

don't reach. Those children are at increased risk of SIDS, sudden infant death

syndrome; lung infections such as pneumonia; ear infections; and more severe

asthma.

 

" Exposure to secondhand smoke remains an alarming public health hazard, "

Carmona said. " Nonsmokers need protection through the restriction of smoking in

public places and workplaces " -- and by smokers voluntarily not puffing around

children.

 

The report won't surprise doctors. It isn't a new study but a compilation of

the best research on secondhand smoke, the most comprehensive federal probe

since the last surgeon general's report on the topic in 1986, which declared

secondhand smoke a cause of lung cancer in nonsmokers.

 

Since then, numerous other health agencies have linked to secondhand smoke to

heart disease and other illnesses. Earlier this year, California health

officials estimated that secondhand smoke kills about 3,400 nonsmoking Americans

annually from lung cancer, 46,000 from heart disease, and 430 from SIDS.

 

The new surgeon general's report doesn't retally the deaths, but it cites

that toll.

 

The tobacco industry and some businesses, particularly restaurant and bar

owners concerned about loss of smoking customers, have challenged some of the

broadest public smoking bans in cities and states.

 

The new report gives new scientific ammunition against those challenges, said

Matthew Myers of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

 

" There is no longer a scientific controversy that secondhand smoke is a

killer, " he said. The report " eliminates any excuse from any state or city for

taking halfway measures to restrict smoking, or permitting smoking in any indoor

workplace. "

 

Among other findings:

 

Separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air and ventilation systems

don't eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke.

 

There is good evidence that comprehensive smoking bans, such as those in New

York City and Boston, don't economically hurt the hospitality industry.

 

Workplace smoking restrictions not only reduce secondhand smoke but also

discourage active smoking by employees.

 

Secondhand smoke can act on the arteries so quickly that even a brief pass

through someone else's smoke can endanger people at high risk of heart disease.

Don't ever smoke around a sick relative, Carmona advised.

 

Living with a smoker increases a nonsmoker's risk of lung cancer and heart

disease by up to 30 percent.

 

There isn't proof that secondhand smoke causes breast cancer, although the

evidence is suggestive. California earlier this year cited that link in becoming

the first state to declare secondhand smoke a toxic air pollutant.

 

On the plus side, blood measurements of a nicotine byproduct show that

exposure to secondhand smoke has decreased. Levels dropped by 75 percent in

adults

and 68 percent in children between the early 1990s and 2002. However, not only

has children's exposure declined less rapidly, but levels of that byproduct

among children are more than twice as high as in nonsmoking adults.

 

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.