Epidemiological
studies show that non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke are at
risk for many of the health problems associated with direct
smoking.
In 1992, the Journal of the American Medical Association
published a review of the available evidence regarding the
relationship between secondhand smoke and heart disease, and
estimated that passive smoking was responsible for 35,000 to
40,000 deaths per year in the United States in the early 1980s.
Some studies find that non-smokers living with smokers have
about a 25% increase in risk of death from heart attack, are
more likely to suffer a stroke, and can sometimes contract
genital cancer. Some research, with better measures of
secondhand smoke exposure suggests that risks to nonsmokers may
be even greater than this estimate. A British study reported
that exposure to secondhand smoke increases the risk of heart
disease among non-smokers by as much as 60%, similar to light
smoking.
Parental smoking can affect children and babies, and is
associated with low birth weight, sudden infant death syndrome
(SIDS), bronchitis and pneumonia, and middle ear infections.
In 2002, a group of 29 experts from 12 countries convened by the
Monographs Programme of the International Agency for Research on
Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization (WHO) reviewed
all significant published evidence related to tobacco smoking
and cancer. It concluded:
These meta-analyses show that there is a statistically
significant and consistent association between lung cancer risk
in spouses of smokers and exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke
from the spouse who smokes. The excess risk is of the order of
20% for women and 30% for men and remains after controlling for
some potential sources of bias and confounding.
Subsequent meta-analyses have confirmed these findings, and
additional studies have found that high overall exposure to
passive smoke even among people with non-smoking partners is
associated with greater risks than partner smoking and is
widespread in non-smokers.
The National Asthma Council of Australia cites studies showing
that environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is probably the most
important indoor pollutant, especially around young children:
Smoking by either parent, particularly by the mother, increases
the risk of asthma in children.
The outlook for early childhood asthma is less favourable in
smoking households.
Children with asthma who are exposed to smoking in the home
generally have more severe disease.
Many adults with asthma identify ETS as a trigger for their
symptoms.
Doctor-diagnosed asthma is more common among non-smoking adults
exposed to ETS than those not exposed. Among people with asthma,
higher ETS exposure is associated with a greater risk of severe
attacks.
In France passive smoking has been estimated to cause between
3,000 and 5,000 premature deaths per year, with the larger
figure cited by Prime minister Dominique de Villepin during his
announcement of a nationwide smoking ban: "That makes more than
13 deaths a day. It is an unacceptable reality in our country in
terms of public health.
Epidemiological studies of passive smoking Studies in animals >>
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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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