CHICAGO -  As the nation continues to debate health reform, the American Medical Association (AMA) continues to advocate for reforms that will make the health care system work better for America’s patients and physicians. A new full-page advertisement under the headline, “A Healthier Tomorrow Depends on What We Do Today,” will run Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal’s special report “Fixing Healthcare.”

“Through reform our health care system can be improved for America’s patients and the physicians who dedicate their lives to caring for them,” said AMA President J. James Rohack, MD. “This new ad reiterates the AMA’s role in the reform debate as an advocate for patients and physicians, and shows that we will continue to be actively engaged until meaningful health reform is a reality.”

This ad is another piece of the AMA’s campaign to make health reform a reality. To view all AMA activity related to health reform, visit www.hsreform.org.

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Media contact:

Lisa Lecas
American Medical Association
(312) 464-5980

Lung disease is the number three killer in America, responsible for one in six deaths. Lung disease and other breathing problems constitute one of the leading causes of death in babies younger than one year old. Today, more than 35 million Americans are living with chronic lung disease such as asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) otherwise known as emphysema and chronic bronchitis. This section includes information on lung cancer, tuberculosis, COPD, influenza, pneumonia, sarcoidosis, and HIV/AIDS-related lung disease among others.

More detailed information on the most common lung diseases and risk factors are located in the Research/ Data and Statistics section under trend reports and lung disease publications.

View all research projects currently funded by the American Lung Association

Reference:
American Lung Association (2009). Lung diseases a to z. Retrieved October 18, 2009 from http://www.lungusa.org/site/c.dvLUK9O0E/b.4294231/k.7AE3/Lung_Diseases_A_to_Z.htm

 
Secondhand smoke, also know as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), is a mixture of the smoke given off by the burning end of a cigarette, pipe or cigar and the smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers. It is involuntarily inhaled by nonsmokers, lingers in the air hours after cigarettes have been extinguished and can cause or exacerbate a wide range of adverse health effects, including cancer, respiratory infections, and asthma.1

•The current Surgeon General’s Report concluded that scientific evidence indicates that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Short exposures to secondhand smoke can cause blood platelets to become stickier, damage the lining of blood vessels, decrease coronary flow velocity reserves, and reduce heart rate variability, potentially increasing the risk of heart attack.2

•Secondhand smoke has been classified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a known cause of cancer in humans (Group A carcinogen).3

•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.4

•Secondhand smoke causes almost 50,000 deaths in adult nonsmokers in the United States each year, including approximately 3,400 from lung cancer and 22,700-69,600 from heart disease.5

•Nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke at work are at increased risk for adverse health effects. Levels of secondhand smoke in restaurants and bars were found to be 2 to 5 times higher than in residences with smokers and 2 to 6 times higher than in office workplaces.6

•Workplace productivity was increased and absenteeism was decreased among former smokers compared with current smokers.7

•Twenty-three states – Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, Utah, and Vermont – as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have passed laws prohibiting smoking in almost all public places and workplaces, including restaurants and bars.8

•Secondhand smoke is especially 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, resulting in between 7,500 and 15,000 hospitalizations each year, and causes 430 sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) deaths in the United States annually.9

•Secondhand smoke exposure may cause buildup of fluid in the middle ear, resulting in 790,000 physician office visits per year.10 Secondhand smoke can also aggravate symptoms in 400,000 to 1,000,000 children with asthma.11

•In the United States, 21 million, or 35 percent of, children live in homes where residents or visitors smoke in the home on a regular basis.12 Approximately 50-75 percent of children in the United States have detectable levels of cotinine, the breakdown product of nicotine in the blood.13

•Research indicates that private research conducted by cigarette company Philip Morris in the 1980s showed that secondhand smoke was highly toxic, yet the company suppressed the finding during the next two decades.14
For more information on secondhand smoke, please review the Tobacco Morbidity and Mortality Trend Report as well as our Lung Disease Data publication in the Data and Statistics section of our website at www.lungusa.org, or call the American Lung Association at 1-800-LUNG-USA (1-800-586-4872).

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Sources:

1. California Environmental Protection Agency. Identification of Environmental Tobacco Smoke as a Toxic Air Contaminant. Executive Summary. June 2005.
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General, 2006. 6 Major Conclusions of the Surgeon General Report. Available at the Surgeon General’s website. Accessed on January 8, 2009.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. California Environmental Protection Agency. Identification of Environmental Tobacco Smoke as a Toxic Air Contaminant. Executive Summary. June 2005.
6. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Report on Carcinogens, Tenth Edition 2002. National Toxicology Program.
7. Halpern, M.T.; Shikiar, R.; Rentz, A.M.; Khan, Z.M. Impact of Smoking Status on Workplace Absenteeism and Productivity. Tobacco Control 2001; 10:233-8.
8. American Lung Association. State Legislated Actions on Tobacco Issues (SLATI). December 11, 2008. Available at http://slati.lungusa.org/StateLegislateAction.asp Accessed on January 8, 2009.
9. California Environmental Protection Agency. Identification of Environmental Tobacco Smoke as a Toxic Air Contaminant. Executive Summary. June 2005.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Schuster, MA, Franke T, Pham CB. Smoking Patterns of Household Members and Visitors in Homes with Children in United States. Archives of Pediatric Adolescent Medicine. November 2002; 156(11):1094-100.
13. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. America’s Children and the Environment: Measures of Contaminants, Body Burdens, and Illnesses. Second Edition. February 2003
14. Diethelm PA, Rielle JC, McKee M. The Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth? The Research Philip Morris Did Not Want You to See. Lancet. July 2005; 364(9446):86-92.

Wanted to spread the word about this event happening in Washington, D.C. on November 18.  Hope I can attend.  Will do my best.

Sponsors:

Research!America’s –  Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research,
Families USA’s Global Health Initiative,
Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC),
Congressional Black Caucus (CBC)
Health Braintrust,
Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC)
Task Force on Health and the Environment, and Congressional Global Health Caucus

Speakers

• Thomas Frieden, MD, MPH, Commissioner, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
• Romel Lacson, MPH, Project Director, Amaya Lacson TB Photovoice Project
• Samuel Stanley, Jr., MD, Vice Chancellor for Research, Washington University; Paul G. Rogers Society Ambassador
• Eric Bing, MD, PhD, MPH, Endowed Professor of Global Health & HIV, Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science; Paul G. Rogers Society Ambassador

Contact Information
Jennifer Chow
jchow@researchamerica.org