Second Hand Smoke

Data suggest that exposure to secondhand smoke can result in heart disease in nonsmoking adults. Recently, progress has been made in reducing involuntary exposure to secondhand smoke through legislation banning smoking in workplaces, restaurants, and other public places. The effect of legislation to ban smoking and its effects on the cardiovascular health of nonsmoking adults, however, remains a question. Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Cardiovascular Effects reviews available scientific literature to assess the relationship between secondhand smoke exposure and acute coronary events. The authors, experts in secondhand smoke exposure and toxicology, clinical cardiology, epidemiology, and statistics, find that there is about a 25 to 30 percent increase in the risk of coronary heart disease from exposure to secondhand smoke. Their findings agree with the 2006 Surgeon General's Report conclusion that there are increased risks of coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality among men and women exposed to secondhand smoke. However, the authors note that the evidence for determining the magnitude of the relationship between chronic secondhand smoke exposure and coronary heart disease is not very strong. Public health professionals will rely upon Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Cardiovascular Effects for its survey of critical epidemiological studies on the effects of smoking bans and evidence of links between secondhand smoke exposure and cardiovascular events, as well as its findings and recommendations.

This Surgeon General's report returns to the topic of the health effects of involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke. The last comprehensive review of this evidence by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) was in the 1986 Surgeon General's report, The Health Consequences of Involuntary Smoking, published 20 years ago this year. This new report updates the evidence of the harmful effects of involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke. This large body of research findings is captured in an accompanying dynamic database that profiles key epidemiologic findings, and allows the evidence on health effects of exposure to tobacco smoke to be synthesized and updated (following the format of the 2004 report, The Health Consequences of Smoking). The database enables users to explore the data and studies supporting the conclusions in the report. The database is available on the Web site of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco.

The IARC Monographs series publishes authoritative independent assessments by international experts of the carcinogenic risks posed to humans by a variety of agents, mixtures and exposures. They are a resource of information for both researchers and national and international authorities. This volume is particularly significant because tobacco smoke not only causes more deaths from cancer than any other known agent; it also causes more deaths from vascular and respiratory diseases. This volume contains all the relevant information on both direct and passive smoking. It is organised by first looking at the nature of agent before collecting the evidence of cancer in humans. This is followed by carcinogenicity studies on animals and then any other data relevant to an evaluation.

In the seamy atmosphere of Miami Beach's Collins Avenue, Mila Katz, a streaky card shark and confidante of mobsters, lives by the wits with which she has survived the Holocaust. Second Hand Smoke is the story of Mila's sons, Issac and Duncan, the one secretly abandoned in Poland, and the other, American-born, raised as an avenging Nazi hunter, poisoned with rage. Told in bursts of fractured realism and dark comedy, Second Hand Smoke is a postmodern mystery of great lyrical power, deep insight, and emotional resonance.

Presents the evidence on the effectiveness of measures enforced at the societal level to eliminate tobacco smoking and tobacco smoke from the environments where exposure takes place. This volume offers a critical review of the evidence on the economic effects and health benefits of smoke-free legislation and the adoption of voluntary smoke-free policies in households.

This report considers the biological and behavioral mechanisms that may underlie the pathogenicity of tobacco smoke. Many Surgeon General's reports have considered research findings on mechanisms in assessing the biological plausibility of associations observed in epidemiologic studies. Mechanisms of disease are important because they may provide plausibility, which is one of the guideline criteria for assessing evidence on causation. This report specifically reviews the evidence on the potential mechanisms by which smoking causes diseases and considers whether a mechanism is likely to be operative in the production of human disease by tobacco smoke. This evidence is relevant to understanding how smoking causes disease, to identifying those who may be particularly susceptible, and to assessing the potential risks of tobacco products.

Authored by two longtime researchers in tobacco science, The Chemical Components of Tobacco and Tobacco Smoke, Second Edition chronicles the progress made from late 2008 through 2011 by scientists in the field of tobacco science. The book examines the isolation and characterization of each component. It explores developments in pertinent analytical

Today, massive and conclusive scientific evidence documents the serious health risks that second-hand smoke poses to children, and the list of these health conditions has lengthened. The 2006 Surgeon General's report on The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke concludes that children who are exposed to second-hand smoke are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome, lower respiratory infections, middle ear disease, more severe asthma, respiratory symptoms, and slowed lung growth. Because their respiratory, immune, and nervous systems are still developing, children are especially vulnerable to the health effects of second-hand smoke. In addition, young children typically are exposed to second-hand smoke involuntarily and have limited options for avoiding exposure. They depend on their parents and on adults around them for protection.