California declares passive smoke a toxic pollutant

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.

The unanimous decision by the state Air Resources Board relied on a September report that found a sharply increased risk of breast cancer in women exposed to secondhand smoke.

The report also links drifting smoke to premature births, asthma and heart disease, as well as other cancers and numerous health problems in children.

“If people are serious about breast cancer, they have to deal with second-hand smoke. That’s what this is all about,” said Dr Stanton Glantz, director of the Centre for Tobacco Control, Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco.

“This is a seminal, international document,” Dr Glantz said.

“It’s impossible to underestimate what a big deal this is.”

The report by scientists at California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment drew on more than 1,000 other studies of second-hand smoke and blamed the fumes for 4,000 deaths each year in California from lung cancer or heart disease.

The most significant new finding cited by state officials is that young women exposed to second-hand smoke increase their risk of developing breast cancer between 68% and 120%.

The disease kills about 40,000 women in the US each year.

The air board must next consider regulatory steps to reduce exposure to the smoke, a process that could take years.