Tobacco Documents Online

a I I RELEASE i ~ ~ For Immediate Release: Contact: ~ November 20, 1995 Amber Moore at 703/276-2772 ~ ~ New Congressional Study Shows Minimal Health Effects j Q from Environmental Tobacco Smoke ~ Washington, D.C. -- A new report conducted by the Congressional Research Service ' U (CRS), at the request of anti-tobacco industry advocate Congressman Henry Waxman ! (D-CA), refutc%, claims that second-hand smoke is a serious health risk for Americans. W These findings add to the argument that there has been no scientific justification for the smoking bans or de facto bans being proposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The Bakery, Confectionery and Tobacco Workers International Union (BC&T) has joined with other unions and lawmakers to call on OSHA to reopen hearings regarding it's new indoor air quality standards which will affect millions of workplaces. The report points out that the public's perception of the threat from environmental tobacco smoke has been wrong. `The American public has been intentionally mislead by those working to destroy the tobacco lndustry," said Frank Hurt, the President of BC&T. "This is good news for tobacco workers whose jobs have been threatened by advocates working with incomplete information. Restaurant and bar owners, their patrons and American adults should also be interested in this report," Hurt continued, "It asserts that there is no need for more government regulation of tobacco use. These findings agree with what we've been saying all along -- anti-tobacco advocates have just been blowing smoke on this issue." In testimony before a Senate subcommittee, CRS, a nonpartisan and objective organization, concluded that "the statistical evidence does not appear to support a conclusion that there are substantial health effects of passive smoking." In fact, `for a person only exposed to background ETS, the [chance of dying of lung cancer from the ETS over a lifetime] number drops to about 7/100 of one percent." - more -

CRS findings/ page 2 The report, "Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Lung Cancer Risk," indicates that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and OSHA used flawed and incomplete studies to draw their conclusions that passive smoke was a serious health risk. The report claims that 'OSHA...chose not to use the remaining estimates which found no overall association between workplace exposure and lung cancer." The BC&T will be actively encouraging OSHA to reopen hearings on the Issue of environmental tobacco smoke and the indoor air quality standards for workplace smoking that had previously been recommended. Last year OSHA proposed rules requiring workplaces to be either smokefree or to undergo expensive improvements to heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. 30