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Passive smoke a killer, report by US' top doctor says

Second-hand smoke kills people and the only way to control it is to ban all smoking in workplaces, the US government's top doctor said on Tuesday.

The report by Surgeon General Richard Carmona echoed the forcefulness of a 1964 surgeon general's report which paved the way for mandatory cigarette warnings and advertising restrictions.

"I am here to say the debate is over: the science is clear," Carmona said at a news conference on Tuesday morning to release the report, which updated the original surgeon general's study of secondhand smoke in 1986.

"The scientific evidence is now indisputable: second-hand smoke is not a mere annoyance," Carmona told reporters. "It is a serious health hazard that can lead to disease and premature death in children and nonsmoking adults."

At least 60 percent of US nonsmokers show signs of exposure to second-hand smoke, Carmona wrote in a preface to the report.

The report said it was impossible to protect nonsmokers even with designated smoking areas, making a workplace ban necessary.

"I hope this new Surgeon General's Report will finally spur Congress to take meaningful action to regulate cigarettes the most dangerous consumer product in America," Senator Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in a statement.

A report last year by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that second-hand smoke caused the death each year in the US of 3,000 people from lung cancer, 46,000 from heart disease and 430 newborns from sudden infant death syndrome.

"Smoking by parents causes respiratory symptoms and slows lung growth in their children," the report said. "The scientific evidence indicates that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke."

The report also went beyond the 1986 study by finding that evidence suggests possible links between secondhand smoking and some other cancers, including breast cancer, childhood cancer and nasal sinus cancer. It found no link to cervical cancer.

Anti-smoking groups were delighted by the report.

"Elected leaders must continue to move toward a 100 percent smoke-free nation and do their part to help reduce death and disability from cardiovascular disease," said M. Cass Wheeler, CEO of the American Heart Association.

The report said the tobacco industry had sought to cover up scientific findings on environmental tobacco smoke with biased research and other means.

But the tobacco industry stood by its commitment to personal choice and responsibility.

Reynolds American Inc's RJ Reynolds Tobacco unit said in a statement on its Web site: "It seems unlikely that second-hand smoke presents any significant harm to otherwise healthy nonsmoking adults; and, given the extensive smoking bans and restrictions that have already been enacted, nonsmokers can easily avoid exposure to second-hand smoke."
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