| In 1986, the United
States Surgeon General issued a report concluding that
secondhand smoke was a cause of disease. In the same year, the
International Agency for Research on Cancer and the National
Research Council also released reports concluding that
secondhand smoke was a cause of lung cancer. Over the subsequent
20 years, the accumulation of scientific evidence has led to a
scientific consensus that passive smoking is indeed harmful to
non-smokers.
A U.S. District Court found, in a racketeering case against the
tobacco industry, that the industry had internally acknowledged
the harmfulness of passive smoking even earlier. Nonetheless,
the tobacco industry has played a central role in generating and
sustaining controversy over the effects of passive smoking.
Controversy over harms of passive smoking Critique of individual
studies and epidemiology >>
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Second Hand Smoke Passive smoking
Long-term
effects
Short-term
effects
Causal
mechanisms
Epidemiological studies of passive smoking
1. Studies of passive smoking in animals
2.
Risk level of passive smoking
Current state of scientific opinion
1. Public
opinion
Controversy over harms of passive smoking
1. Critique of individual studies and epidemiology
2. World Health Organization controversy
3. EPA lawsuit
4. Tobacco-industry funding of research
Tobacco industry response
1. Position of major tobacco companies
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