The health concerns of passive smokers
Saturday, 6 June 2009
Subroto Kumar Roy
Twenty years ago when Dr C Everett Koop released the Surgeon General's Report, the Health Consequences of Involuntary Smoking, it was the first Surgeon General's report to conclude that involuntary exposure of non-smokers to secondhand smoke was first considered in Surgeon General Jesse Steinfeld's 1972 report, and by 1986 the causal linkage between inhaling secondhand smoke and the risk for lung cancer was clear. By then, there was also abundant evidence of adverse effects of smoking by parents on their children.
Time passes, things get changed. Today, massive and conclusive scientific evidence documents the adverse effects of involuntary smoking on children and adults, including cancer and cardiovascular diseases in adults and adverse respiratory effects on both children and adults.
Secondhand smoke is similar to the mainstream smoke inhaled by the smoker. It is a complex mixture containing many chemicals including formaldehyde, cyanide, carbon monoxide, ammonia and nicotine, many of which are known as carcinogens. Exposure to secondhand smoke causes deaths from lung cancer and cardiac-related illnesses in Bangladesh. Fortunately, exposures of adults are declining as smoking becomes increasingly restricted at work and public places. Unfortunately, children continue to be exposed at their homes to the smoking of their parents and other adults. This exposure leads to unnecessary cases of bronchitis, pneumonia and worsens asthma.
As this report documents, exposure to secondhand smoke remains an alarming public health hazard, approximately 60 per cent of nonsmokers in Bangladesh have biological evidence of exposure to secondhand smoke.
We have made great progress since the late 1980s in reducing the involuntary exposure of nonsmokers in this country to secondhand smoke. The proportion of nonsmokers aged 4 and older with blood cotinine (a metabolite of nicotine) indicating exposure declined from 88 per cent in 1988-1991 down to 43 percent in 2001-2002, a decline that exceeds the Healthy People 2010 objective for this measure. Despite the great progress that has been made, involuntary exposure to secondhand smoke remains a serious public health hazard that can be prevented by making homes, workplaces and public places completely smoke-free. As of the year 2000, more than 126 million residents of the United States aged 3 or older were estimated to be exposed to secondhand smoke. A smoke-free environment is the most effective method of reducing exposure. The Healthy People 2010 objectives address this issue and seek optimal protection of nonsmokers through policies, regulations and laws requiring smoke-free environments in all schools, workplaces and public places.
The government should take an initiative to ensure that cigarette companies inscribe packets of cigarette with cautionary remarks with photographs depicting consequences of tobacco consumption.
The writer is the programme officer of Bangladesh Consortium on Tobacco Control (BCTC)
Twenty years ago when Dr C Everett Koop released the Surgeon General's Report, the Health Consequences of Involuntary Smoking, it was the first Surgeon General's report to conclude that involuntary exposure of non-smokers to secondhand smoke was first considered in Surgeon General Jesse Steinfeld's 1972 report, and by 1986 the causal linkage between inhaling secondhand smoke and the risk for lung cancer was clear. By then, there was also abundant evidence of adverse effects of smoking by parents on their children.
Time passes, things get changed. Today, massive and conclusive scientific evidence documents the adverse effects of involuntary smoking on children and adults, including cancer and cardiovascular diseases in adults and adverse respiratory effects on both children and adults.
Secondhand smoke is similar to the mainstream smoke inhaled by the smoker. It is a complex mixture containing many chemicals including formaldehyde, cyanide, carbon monoxide, ammonia and nicotine, many of which are known as carcinogens. Exposure to secondhand smoke causes deaths from lung cancer and cardiac-related illnesses in Bangladesh. Fortunately, exposures of adults are declining as smoking becomes increasingly restricted at work and public places. Unfortunately, children continue to be exposed at their homes to the smoking of their parents and other adults. This exposure leads to unnecessary cases of bronchitis, pneumonia and worsens asthma.
As this report documents, exposure to secondhand smoke remains an alarming public health hazard, approximately 60 per cent of nonsmokers in Bangladesh have biological evidence of exposure to secondhand smoke.
We have made great progress since the late 1980s in reducing the involuntary exposure of nonsmokers in this country to secondhand smoke. The proportion of nonsmokers aged 4 and older with blood cotinine (a metabolite of nicotine) indicating exposure declined from 88 per cent in 1988-1991 down to 43 percent in 2001-2002, a decline that exceeds the Healthy People 2010 objective for this measure. Despite the great progress that has been made, involuntary exposure to secondhand smoke remains a serious public health hazard that can be prevented by making homes, workplaces and public places completely smoke-free. As of the year 2000, more than 126 million residents of the United States aged 3 or older were estimated to be exposed to secondhand smoke. A smoke-free environment is the most effective method of reducing exposure. The Healthy People 2010 objectives address this issue and seek optimal protection of nonsmokers through policies, regulations and laws requiring smoke-free environments in all schools, workplaces and public places.
The government should take an initiative to ensure that cigarette companies inscribe packets of cigarette with cautionary remarks with photographs depicting consequences of tobacco consumption.
The writer is the programme officer of Bangladesh Consortium on Tobacco Control (BCTC)