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The U.S. Surgeon General concluded back in 2006 that nearly 50,000 Americans die each year from secondhand smoke exposure. The findings of this new IOM report are significant, because they confirm that secondhand smoke exposure is a significant cause of acute coronary events, including heart attacks, and that there is no safe level of exposure. 

The report also concluded that relatively brief exposure to secondhand smoke can cause acute coronary events. It has already been shown that secondhand smoke also causes other serious diseases, including lung cancer.

This growing mountain of evidence makes it clear that secondhand smoke kills, and to protect the public health, smoking should be prohibited in all public areas and workplaces. The Lung Association’s Smokefree Air Challenge is dedicated to making this happen. 

To date, half of all states, along with the District of Columbia, have met our Smokefree Air Challenge by implementing comprehensive smokefree laws.  These laws protect all workers from toxic secondhand smoke in the workplace, and also protect customers from smoke in bars and restaurants, giving people with asthma and other lung diseases the freedom to dine and socialize wherever they choose.

Now with even more evidence of the dangers of secondhand smoke from this new report, it is time for the remaining 25 states to protect their citizens by meeting our Smokefree Air Challenge and joining the American Lung Association in our fight to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease.

To learn more about the American Lung Association’s Smokefree Air Challenge, please visit www.lungusa.org/smokefree.

Secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke.  Secondhand smoke contains hundreds of chemicals known to be toxic or carcinogenic, including formaldehyde, benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic, ammonia and hydrogen cyanide.

Secondhand smoke causes about 50,000 deaths in adult nonsmokers in the United States each year, including approximately 3,400 from lung cancer and up to 69,600 from heart disease.

Secondhand smoke is esecially harmful to young children.  Secondhand smoke is responsible for between 150,000 and 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections in infants and children under 18 months of age.

In the United States, 25 million, or 35 percent of, children live in homes where residents or visitors smoke in the home on a regular basis.  Approximately 50-75 percent of children in the United States have detectable levels of cotinine, the breakdown product of nicotine in their blood.

Reference:
American Lung Association (2009) Confirmed – secondhand smoke causes heart attacks.  Retrieved November 1, 2009 from http://www.lungusa.org/about-us/our-impact/top-stories/secondhand-smoke-heart-attacks.html