NCI Report on the Health Effects of Secondhand Smoke - National Cancer Institute

American Family Physician,  Feb 15, 2000  

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The National Cancer Institute (NCI) recently released the most comprehensive report to date on the health risks of secondhand smoke, linking secondhand smoke not only with lung cancer but also with heart disease, sudden infant death syndrome, nasal sinus cancer and many other diseases in adults and children.

The 430-page report, "Health Effects of Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke: The Report of the California Environmental Protection Agency," ". . . confirms what most Americans already know-cigarettes not only pose grave health risks to the smoker, they also threaten the health of anyone who is even near a lighted cigarette, especially children," said Carol Browner, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The report, which was compiled by the California Environmental Protection Agency, estimates that each year in the United States, there are between 35,000 and 62,000 deaths from coronary heart disease related to secondhand smoke. The report includes 18 epidemiologic studies that link secondhand smoke to coronary heart disease.

U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., added that the public health burden caused by secondhand smoke "more than justifies public policies creating smokefree workplaces and public areas."

Copies of the report can be obtained by calling the NCI Cancer Information Service at 800-4-CANCER or by accessing the NCI Web site (http://rex.nci.nih.gov/NCI_MONOGRAPHS/INDEX.HTM). The report is also being made available to each state health department by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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