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Excerpts from: Passive smoking 'causes asthma'

BBC  [09/25/01]

 
              Second-hand smoke has been linked to asthma
              People whose partners smoke are nearly five
              times more likely to develop asthma in
              adulthood than those who are not exposed to
              passive smoking, according to new research.

              And those who are exposed to second hand
              smoke at work are more than twice as likely to
              develop respiratory problems.

              The risks of exposing children to passive
              smoking are already well-documented but until
              now, a direct link between passive smoking
              and asthma in adults has not been proven.

              Now a team of scientists, led by Maritta
              Jaakkola, from the Finnish Institute of
              Occupational Health in Helsinki, has produced
              the first hard evidence to prove that passive
              smoking does play a role in the development of
              adult asthma.

              Exposure

              The scientists studied a total of 718 people,
              none of whom had ever smoked, from a region
              in southern Finland.

              A total of 231 had been diagnosed with asthma
              in the previous two-and-a-half years - the
              remaining 487 represented the control group.

              The team compared the amount of exposure
              the two groups had had to passive smoking
              over a 12-month period and found that the
              development of adult asthma was more
              prevalent in those who had had the most
              exposure.

              Maritta Jaakkola, who presented her findings at
              the 11th European Congress on Lung Disease
              and Respiratory Medicine in Berlin this week,
              said: "Our results demonstrate conclusively
              that passive smoking plays a role in the
              development of adult asthma."

              'Ground-breaking study'

              Clive Bates, from anti-smoking group Action on
              Smoking and Health (ASH), believes the study
              will have enormous implications for employers
              who have not introduced anti-smoking
              regulations in the work-place.

              He said: "This is a ground-breaking study
              which proves that passive smoking more than
              doubles the risk of developing asthma in
              adulthood.

              "So, if employers have been negligent in
              reducing smoking in the work place, employees
              who develop asthma will have a fair chance of
              proving it was caused by passive smoking.

              "And they will be able to claim thousands of
              pounds in compensation through the courts."

              Mr Bates called on the government to
              introduce passive smoking legislation to reduce
              the risk of law suits to employers.

              A German study, the results of which were also
              presented at the conference, linked passive
              smoking to lung cancer in women who had
              never smoked.

              Meanwhile a study carried out in Italy
              reinforced the Finnish findings and also found
              that women were more likely to be exposed to
              passive smoking than men.