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NEWS & VIEWS |
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Secondhand smoke is dangerous in any amount, and the only way to protect people from it is to eliminate indoor smoking, according to a recent report by former US Surgeon General Richard Carmona, MD, MHP, FACS, whose term of office expired July 29, 2006. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke, released in June, compiles decades of evidence on the health hazards of secondhand smoke, including its impact on cancer.
It confirms that secondhand smoke causes lung cancer in nonsmoking adults, a conclusion first reached in a similar report by then-Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, MD, DSc, FACS, in 1986. But the new investigation goes farther than the original by stating that no level of secondhand smoke exposure is safe. The 1986 report concluded only that separating smokers and nonsmokers reduced, but did not eliminate, the hazard.
In addition, the new report examines adverse effects not included in the original, including cancer in sites besides the lung, heart disease in adults, reproductive and developmental effects, and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
"The health effects of secondhand smoke exposure are more pervasive than we previously thought," said Carmona, Vice Admiral of the US Public Health Service.
"[This] report should end any lingering debate over the importance of enacting comprehensive smoke-free laws," said John Seffrin, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of the American Cancer Society. "The report confirms that the only way to protect people from secondhand smoke is to eliminate their exposure."
Based on research published since the 1986 report, the new report concludes that secondhand smoke exposure in any setting, not just at home, can cause lung cancer. And it finds that nonsmokers who live with a smoker have a 20% to 30% increase in the risk of getting lung cancer from secondhand smoke.
The report also concludes that the evidence linking secondhand smoke exposure to breast cancer is "suggestive but not sufficient to infer a causal relationship." Likewise, there is suggestive, but insufficient, evidence to say secondhand smoke causes nasopharyngeal carcinoma and cancer of the nasal cavity in nonsmokers. The report finds "inadequate" evidence to determine either the presence or absence of a causal relationship between secondhand smoke and cervical cancer in lifelong nonsmokers.
"The good news is that, unlike some public health hazards, secondhand smoke exposure is easily prevented," Carmona said. "Smoke-free indoor environments are proven, simple approaches that prevent exposure and harm."
Seffrin noted that momentum to enact smoke-free laws is growing.
"In 1964, there were no smoke-free laws in existence," he said. "Today, 16 states, Washington, DC, and more than 2,200 communities across the country have passed such laws, covering 43% of the American population."
The full Surgeon General's report is available online at http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/secondhandsmoke/.
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