Restaurant Press Releases
Surgeon General Reports there is "No Risk-Free Level of Exposure to Secondhand Smoke"
CONTACT:
Paul McIntyre or
Jean Carter
(916) 780-0226
Immediate Release: July 25, 2006
The long awaited Surgeon General's update to its original 1986 report on the health consequences of exposure to secondhand smoke was released last month. Not surprisingly, it confirms what health advocates have been saying for years, "There is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke." The report is available on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website, and is enhanced by the availability of a dynamic database allowing the public to examine the studies and data used in the report.
Secondhand smoke is the smoke exhaled by a smoker and given off by the end of a burning cigar or cigarette. According to the Surgeon General's report, it is "harmful and hazardous to the health of the general public and particularly dangerous to children." This echoes the sentiments of the California Environmental Tobacco Agency's Air Resources Board, which in January determined that secondhand smoke is a toxic air contaminant disproportionately affecting children. Its designation as a toxic air contaminant clears the way for regulators to further restrict exposure to secondhand smoke.
While the Surgeon General's report credits gains made in smoke-free workplaces with drastic reductions in the public's exposure, it estimates that more than 126 million non-smokers are still exposed to secondhand smoke. Among the 22 million (or 60 percent of) American children currently exposed to secondhand smoke, an estimated 22 percent are exposed in their homes. In fact, the report cites recent data revealing that biomarkers for secondhand smoke exposure are more than twice as high in children as in adults.
The health effects of secondhand smoke cited in the Surgeon General's report should come as no surprise. Among other detrimental effects, exposure to secondhand smoke causes coronary heart disease and lung cancer. This translates in an increased risk to nonsmokers exposed at work or home of 25-30 percent for heart disease and 20-30 percent for lung cancer. Infants and children are more susceptible to the toxins released in secondhand smoke than adults are. As a result, children exposed to secondhand smoke suffer from higher rates of bronchitis, pneumonia, ear infections, asthma attacks, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) than children not exposed.
The report also revealed what smoke-free workplace advocates have been telling lawmakers for years: the only way to effectively eliminate exposure by the public to this danger is to ban smoking in public venues. Ventilation systems, air cleaning systems, and separate smoking sections cannot eliminate the spread of toxins in secondhand smoke to workers and members of the non-smoking public. The agency also calls for voluntary bans on smoking in the home, especially around children.
Paul McIntyre, President of Kids Involuntarily Inhaling Secondhand Smoke (KIISS) hails the Surgeon General's report as an important tool for lawmakers and the public, "This comprehensive analysis of the evidence of secondhand smoke's impact on health could not have come at a better time. The nation, in fact the world, is rapidly becoming aware of the danger that has long been dismissed and obscured by rhetoric from the tobacco companies. Secondhand smoke does kill, and only by ensuring the public and our children are not exposed to it, can we save them the grief of past generations."
KIISS has been working since April 2000 to protect children and workers from the dangers of secondhand smoke. KIISS distributes various materials designed to educate employers and parents about the dangers of secondhand smoke, and to encourage solutions for protecting workers and children. These kits can be ordered free of charge from KIISS' website at www.kiiss.org.