CALIFORNIA has declared passive smoke a toxic air pollutant on a par with diesel exhausts, arsenic and benzene because of its link to breast cancer.

California has become the first US state to declare passive smoke a toxic air pollutant, putting tobacco fumes in the same category as diesel exhaust, arsenic and benzene because of its link to breast cancer.

AN American study into the effects of passive smoking reveals that heart attacks can be halved by a workplace ban like the one being introduced here.

A six-month public smoking ban saw heart attack rates plummet