Tobacco Documents Online

~x- Here is what Surgeon General C. Everett Koop says about involuntary smoking: There is all the medical evidence necessary to support reasonable and sensible protection for the nonsmoker against the irritation and potential harm that comes from other people's smoke. The harmful constituents of mainstream cigarette smoke are found in sidestream smoke, sometimes to a greater atent than in mainstream smoke. Pbllution from tobacco smoke in homes, offices, other uarksites and in certain public places can rrach levels which exceed contaminant levels permitted under environmental and occupational health hn regulations. r- Nonsmokers absorb the constituents of tobacco smoke into their bodies, even though in smaller amounts than is true of those who smoke. - Passive smoking can make the symptoms of asthma and chronic bronchitis worse, and make life miserable for people with allergic conditions. Maternal smoking has a harmful effect on pregnancy, including an increased risk of miscarriage, prematurityt stillbirth, death soon after birth, low birth weight and fetal death. There is increasing evidence to suggest that anoironmental tobacco smoke can bring about disease, - including lung cancer, in healthy adults, children and in/ants. ft is on the basis of these facts that I advise nonsmokers to auoid aposure to cigartite smoke wherever possible, and that, in particuFar, they should protect infants and children from this smoke. Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights and the - - - - American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation seek to develop a coordinated action-oriented program of legislative, educational and legal activities to permit nonsmokers to avoid involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke in public places and places of employment. Norismoe rs Rights 2054 University Avenue. Suite 500 8erkeky, California 94704 (415)841-3032 VCzV8sRz0z 0 1985 Americans for Nonsmoken' Rights NONSMOKER ;..- .~ . ..: -r ~

:.• Tob aCCo Smoke and the Nonsmoker Tobacco smoking produces serious disease in -- smokers. As biomedical researchers have cemented this link, some have turned their - attention to the question of whether or not tobacco smoke produced by others harms nonsmokers. Research to date supports the following conclusions: Breathing second hand smoke significantly increases the risk of developing cancer. A study by the United States Environmental Protection Agency concluded that passive smoking accounts for up to 5,000 lung cancer deaths annually in nonsmokers. Several independent studies have demonstrated that nonsmoking wives of smoking husbands face 2-3 times the risk of developing lung cancer as nonsmoking wives of nonsmokers. Other studies have revealed that involuntary smoking is associated with a doubling of overall cancer risk, including breast, cervical and endocrine cancers. There is evidence that childhood exposure to cigarette smoke increases the risk of developing cancer as an adult. Breathing second-hand smoke for extended periods causes other diseases in healthy nonsmoker.. Children of smoking parents have more respiratory illnesses and allergic manffestations than similar children of nonsmoking parents. The illnesses appear to be dose-related; that is, when both parents smoke, the children have more respiratory illnesses than if only one parent smokes. Since babies and very young children do not smoke, their increased respiratory illnesses in families where one or more parents smoke clear- ly•results from exposure to second-hand smoke. Teenagers have impaired lung fundion when their parents smoke; this effect is independent of and additive to the effects of any smoking by the teenagers themselves. The pulmonary function of adult nonsmokers who have worked in smoky offices is impaired to the same extent as light smokers. Nonsmokers work- ing in smoke-free offices have better lung function than the light smokers and passive smokers. Breathing second-hand smoke can aggravate the condition of more than 2.5 million Californians with heart or lung disease. Individuals with heart or lung disease generally have reduced reserve capacity available for transporting oxygen from their lungs to their body tissues. The carbon monoxide in second- hand smoke binds tightly to the hemoglobin molecule that normally carries oxygen in the blood, reducing the blood's capacity to carry oxygen. In people with little reserve oxygen- carrying capacity, this reduction in blood's oxygen-carrying capacity makes them more prone to developing symptoms. For example, people with coronary artery disease exposed to second-hand smoke experience angina pectoris, which indicates the heart is not receiving adequate oxygen, after shorter periods of exercise than they do when breathing clean air. Similarly, people with hypoxic chronic lung disease experience shortness of breath after shorter periods of exercise when exposed to second-hand smoke than when breathing clean air. The nicotine in second-hand smoke may also play some role in mediating these effects. Second-hand smoke, like all tobacco smoke, contains more than 4600 toxic chemicals, (including cyanide, arsenic, formaldehyde, - methane, propane, carbon monoxide, acetone, and ammonia). This conclusion follows from chemical analyses of smoke emanating from the end of lighted cigarettes. The concentrations of some of these chemicals are higher in the second-hand smoke than the primary smoke the smoker inhales for two reasons: -, ---- ry p ~y~y - -- - -------- . First, when the smoker inhales, the tobacco -- bums at a higher temperature with more - complete combustion; and, Second, the smoke inhaled by a smoker is filtered by his cigarette. Many of these chemicals are known to be carcinogenic in humans or animals. The precise quantity of these chemicals an involuntary smoker inhales depends on such specifics as where he is located with respect to the smoldering cigarette, the amount of tobacco burned, and the ventilation in the room. Tobacco-related cancer causing chemicals appear in the urine of nonsmokers who are exposed to cigarette smoke. Air pollution above Federal standards can occur in enclosed places because of second-hand smoke, even with normal ventilation. These results follow from analyses of carbon monoxide and particulate concentrations in air samples taken from enclosed public places and_ places of employment. It is important to note that some of the studies found relatively lower or higher tobacco-generated pollution concentrations, depending on the specific location being tested. This result is to be expected because tobacco smoke, like any pollutant, is not uniformly distributed. Nevertheless, cigarette smoking often led to carbon monoxide concentrations above 9 parts - per million (the Federal Ambient Air Quality Standard) and always exceeded the Federal Standard for particulates. Second-hand smoke can cause burning of the eyes and nasal passages, headaches, nausea and discomfort In nonamokers, and can aggra- vate vate the condition of pensons with allergies to other substances These symptoms are created by second-hand smoke inflaming the eyes or naso-bronchial passages or by the carbon monoxide restricting transport of oxygen to the brain and other vital organs. Those people with a history of allergies to other substances are more likely to report the Irritating effects of tobacco smoke. For a list of the more than .S_00 scientific publications used to prepare this summary, send