Smoking Section Doesn’t Cut It, Says Surgeon General

The Surgeon General has just released a statement, based on comprehensive research from many studies on secondhand smoke, that “Only smoke-free buildings and public places truly protect nonsmokers from the hazards of breathing in other people’s tobacco smoke.”

Moreover, there is no risk-free level of exposure to someone else’s drifting smoke… a conclusion sure to fuel already growing efforts at public smoking bans nationwide.

This isn’t exactly new news, but I’m glad the Surgeon General decided to make this statement. I wrote an article about smokers needing to step away from buildings while smoking a while back, and got blasted on the comments as usual. One of the main gripes about my article was that “it’s not going to hurt you if you just walk by and breathe in a little.” Well more and more studies are coming out - many of which were used to make this statement - that prove that there is no such thing as a “safe” amount.

I continue to support a smoking ban, and a requirement that smokers step away from buildings while smoking so the smoke does not end up inside with the draft.

From the Washington Post article about the Surgeon General’s statement, here are some key points they found:

Separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air and ventilation systems don’t eliminate exposure to secondhand smoke.

There is good evidence that comprehensive smoking bans, like those in New York City and Boston, don’t economically hurt the hospitality industry.

Workplace smoking restrictions not only reduce secondhand smoke but discourage active smoking by employees.

Secondhand smoke can act on the arteries so quickly that even a brief pass through someone else’s smoke can endanger people at high risk of heart disease. Don’t ever smoke around a sick relative, Carmona advised

Living with a smoker increases a nonsmoker’s risk of lung cancer and heart disease by up to 30 percent.

There isn’t proof that secondhand smoke causes breast cancer, although the evidence is suggestive. California earlier this year cited that link in becoming the first state to declare secondhand smoke a toxic air pollutant.

On the plus side, blood measurements of a nicotine byproduct show that exposure to secondhand smoke has decreased. Levels dropped by 75 percent in adults and 68 percent in children between the early 1990s and 2002. However, not only has children’s exposure declined less rapidly, but levels of that byproduct among children are more than twice as high as in nonsmoking adults.