Tobacco Documents Online

Sunday Telegraph 18th December 1994 Page 1 • • Passive smoking equals just one cigarette a week' C by Nicholas Farrell TIiE first comprehensive research on how much tobacco smoke non-smokers really inhale from passive smoking reveals the amount to be the equivalent of one ci;arette a w eek at most. The results of the survey released b% an independent research laboratory last week suguest that the health risks from passiNe smokin_ are non-existent - in stark contrast to the Department of Health's estimate that about 300 non-smokers dir each vear from illne-;ses related to pa;si%e smoking. The sur%-e% also sho.+s that non-smokers breathe in 100 times more air pollution from other sources. such as petrol fumes containing the known carc:::o:en benzine. Scientists at Hazleton Europe. a research labora- tory based in Ilarro_ate. attached air samoiin: devices to _55 non-smohin: volunteers for 24 hours. Pres ious surveys ha%e mainly relied on question- naires and testtn_= saliva and urine. Dr Simon Woolf. senior lecturer in toxicolog)- at C."ni- .ersit% College. London. and an expert on air pollution. said after studying the report: "Tht_ is the nrst time to my Icnowied_e that an,,one has actuailN t: ied to mea-sure directly the le%el.; nf exposure." lie added: "Thts research suggests that passive smok- ing is an unlikely cause of lung cancer." The survey, published in- the American magazine Environment International. was sponsored b,, • the Centre for Indoor Research. an orga- nisation funded principally by the American chemical industry but receiving some mone% from tobacco interests. It found that most of the %olunteers were exposed to the equivalent of just five cigarettes a ~ear and that even the highest exposure µ as the same as only 50 ciga- rettes a year. Dr Keith Phillips, who headed the research team. said: "I'm neither non-smok- ing or pro-smoking. I'd be more concerned about filling m} car up with petrol than sitting in a smokv pub." But Steve Woodward. dep- utv director of the anti•smok- in_ pressure group ASH. said: "These monitoring deN ices are indicators. .They're a surrogate for K hat's actually happening. "The• best tests are those that test saliva, urine and blood. Non-smokers with the highest exposure had 10 times as much cotonine in their urine compared to the group w i t h the least ex posure. "I was at a dinner party recently where six out of eisht ;uests µere smokers. The% smoked before dinner. hetKeen courses and after dinner. If %ou'd have tested me vou'd have said I was a smoker."