Landmark California EPA Report Confirms Dangers of Secondhand Smoke New findings should spur more smokefree protections

BERKELEY, Calif. (September 29, 2005) A new report from the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal-EPA) on the health effects of secondhand smoke is now available on the web at http://www.arb.ca.gov/toxics/ets/finalreport/finalreport.htm . The report, "Proposed Identification of Environmental Tobacco Smoke as a Toxic Air Contaminant," confirms and expands the science on the hazards of environmental tobacco smoke (also known as secondhand smoke) exposure in both adults and children." We are delighted that the Cal-EPA is once again taking the lead reporting on the effects of secondhand smoke," said Cynthia Hallett, Executive  Director of Americans for Nonsmokers Rights (ANR). "This is the most  comprehensive report to date on this leading, but completely preventable, health hazard. This study should serve as an urgent wake-up call to employers, cities, and states that have not yet taken steps to protect workers and the public from this highly toxic substance." New findings in the Cal-EPA report, Part B, include: a causal link between secondhand smoke exposure and pre-term delivery; asthma induction in adults; breast cancer in younger, primarily premenopausal women; and altered vascular properties. Part A of the report contains the first ever outdoor monitoring of secondhand smoke exposure near designated smoking areas in California. The report has gone through an extensive, four-year scientific review process, including public comment and an independent peer

review.

The Cal-EPA has always been ahead of the curve on reporting the effects of secondhand smoke exposure. In the 1990s, it was the first major scientific agency to confirm a causal relationship between exposure to secondhand smoke and cardiovascular disease. The agency's 1997 report on secondhand smoke was adopted by the federal government in the National Cancer Institute Monograph 10."Since the nonsmokers' rights movement began nearly 30 years ago, more than 400 municipalities in the U.S. have enacted smokefree workplace, restaurant, and/or bar laws," added Hallett. "These new Cal-EPA findings offer more than enough scientific evidence to support the need for passage of these laws in all localities. "Local and statewide smokefree workplace laws are now in effect for approximately 36% of the U.S. population, leaving another 64% still unprotected from exposure to a known carcinogen. People working in or visiting in smoke-filled hospitality settings like casinos, bars, and restaurants are especially at risk. Other recent studies in Montana and Ohio have linked smokefree workplace laws with immediate reductions in heart attack rates, while research from New York, Boston, Delaware, and other places has demonstrated the immediate improvement in worker health and indoor air quality that comes with the implementation of smokefree workplace laws. ANR expects the national trend toward smokefree air to continue moving swiftly in light of the mountain of scientific evidence identifying the dangers of secondhand smoke and the success of smokefree air laws that have already been enacted in the U.S. and internationally. "Casino dealers, musicians, bartenders, and waitresses need to breathe just like everyone else. Their jobs should not be a death sentence," Hallett concluded.

Doctors routinely warn expectant mothers about the dangers of secondhand smoke - that it can increase the risk for miscarriage, sudden infant death syndrome, low birth weight and premature birth. Now, new research suggests that secondhand smoke might be every bit as damaging to a fetus as if the mother were inhaling the smoke directly from a cigarette.

THIS RESEARCH WOULD EVEN LIKELY BE A REASON FOR BUSINESSES, THOSE PROMULGATING AND ENFORCING REGULATIONS TO PONDER THEIR LIKEHOOD OF A SUIT RESULTING FROM SECONDHAND SMOKE EXPOSURE?

"The perception has been that smoking is the major problem and secondhand smoke is something we deal with down the road," said Stephen Grant, author of the study and an associate professor of environmental and occupational health at the University of Pittsburgh. "But here we have absolute evidence that passive exposure to cigarette smoke can cause just as much damage as if the mother was doing the smoking herself."

The new research suggests that a pregnant mother's exposure to secondhand smoke can be just as harmful to her fetus as if she were the one smoking.

Pregnancy dangers: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, smoking during pregnancy is considered the single most preventable cause of illness and death among mothers and infants.

* Women who smoke during pregnancy are more likely than nonsmokers to have a miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy, which is when a fertilized egg is implanted outside the uterus, usually in the fallopian tubes.

* Up to 8 percent of all babies who die less than a week after birth die because of problems caused by their mothers' smoking during pregnancy.

* Babies born to smokers are 1.5 to 3.5 times more likely to have low birth weights than babies born to nonsmoking mothers. Low-birth weight babies are at risk for serious health problems throughout their lives.

Increased risks: According to an article in the online journal Pregnancy Today, studies have shown that smoking during pregnancy can increase the baby's risk of developing meningitis; asthma; oral cleft; stomach difficulties; sleep problems; and attention, motor control and perception disorders.

Grant, the University of Pittsburgh scientist, discovered that secondhand smoke can cause genetic mutations - those that can lead to leukemia and lymphoma - that are indistinguishable from those found when the mother is the smoker.

His research, published earlier this summer in the online journal BMC Pediatrics, is based on the examination of umbilical-cord blood samples from newborns. The research is a reanalysis of three studies that downplayed or ignored the effects of secondhand smoke.

Grant said he hopes the study will alter the mind-sets of pregnant women, motivating them to be even more cautious, while also encouraging smokers to be more conscientious of those around them. And if the research is used to toughen laws on public smoking, so be it, Grant said.

The study provides fodder for [many voluntary, local, or statewide smoking bans, and] California's Initiative 901, a statewide ballot measure this November that would expand smoking bans to all public buildings and vehicles, extending them to restaurants, bars, bowling alleys, skating rinks, cardrooms and minicasinos. The ban also would include areas within 25 feet of doorways, windows and ventilation intakes.

For the full article of the Grant study, go to: www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2431/5/20/abstract

Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Pregnancy Today