Environmental tobacco smoke study

ON May 17, 2003, the British Medical Journal published some findings into passive smoking and disease from a study carried out between 1960-1988.

Prior to the study it was assumed “exposure to environmental tobacco smoke is generally believed to increase risk of coronary heart disease and lung cancer among non smokers by about 25%”.

However, the three main findings of the study are interesting in the light of the proposed smoking ban.

1) They found “environmental tobacco smoke was not associated with coronary heart disease or lung cancer mortality at any level of exposure“.

2) The findings suggest “the effects of environmental tobacco smoke, particularly for coronary heart disease, are considerably smaller than generally believed“.

3) But, “active cigarette smoking was confirmed as a strong, dose-related risk factor for coronary heart disease, lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease“.

John Mallon,

5, Shamrock Grove,

Cork.