scamper
01-26-2006, 10:03 AM
Secondhand smoke again an issue in Calif.
By John Ritter, USA TODAY
SAN FRANCISCO — California regulators will decide today whether to accept a controversial new finding that secondhand smoke causes breast cancer, a decision that could lead to even tougher anti-smoking regulations.
The state's Environmental Protection Agency analyzed recent studies and determined that secondhand smoke causes an average 68% increase in breast cancer risk for women younger than 50. Some women who have not reached menopause have as much as a 120% higher risk, CalEPA's report found.
"This is the most careful analysis of the data up to the most current time frame that exists anywhere," says Cheryl Healton, president of the American Legacy Foundation, an anti-tobacco group in Washington. "It has gone substantially further than anything else I've seen and is carefully vetted through a group of very well-respected scientists."
However, none of the nation's leading cancer research organizations, including the American Cancer Society, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the National Cancer Institute, has endorsed the breast cancer finding.
"We're not disputing that there is a plausibility that secondhand smoke could cause breast cancer," says Harmon Eyre, the American Cancer Society's chief medical officer. "All we're saying is that the evidence has just not reached that level." The disease kills 40,000 women each year in the USA.
A Surgeon General's report on secondhand smoke, which looks at the breast cancer link, is due later this year. The International Agency for Research on Cancer is also studying the issue.
CalEPA's report strengthens existing evidence, accepted in the scientific community, that secondhand smoke causes lung cancer, heart disease, adult asthma, premature birth and sudden infant death syndrome.
If regulators on California's powerful Air Resources Board accept the report today and list secondhand smoke as a "toxic air contaminant," a process would begin to determine whether tougher restrictions on exposure are warranted.
Since passage of a 1983 state law to reduce exposure to toxic air contaminants, the board has never rejected findings approved by the scientific panel that reviews CalEPA's work.
California already has the nation's toughest anti-tobacco laws, including bans on smoking in bars, restaurants and all but a few workplaces. About the only potential areas left are homes, vehicles and some outdoor settings.
Homes are considered off-limits because of privacy concerns, but the board, after studying the potential economic impact, could decide to ban smoking in vehicles carrying children. A 1999 law requires the board to pay special attention to children's heath risks.
The board also could restrict smoking outside building entrances, around ATMs, at amusement parks or outside airport terminals. CalEPA's report contains the first systematic measurements of outdoor exposure levels, says Katharine Hammond, an environmental health sciences professor at the University of California-Berkeley.
In 1997, a CalEPA report was the first to declare secondhand smoke a cause of heart disease, a finding that is now widely accepted. "When they first came out saying there were health effects of secondhand smoke years ago, they were treated with similar skepticism," Healton says.
The Air Resources Board, appointed by the governor, has a history of leading the federal government on environmental issues. In the 1960s, before the federal EPA was created, the board was the first agency to set tailpipe emission standards. Later it required automakers to meet the first standards to control smog-forming emissions.
It also made California the first state to phase out leaded gasoline and to require an additive to cut carbon monoxide emissions. In 2004, the board wrote the first rules requiring automakers to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The breast cancer finding challenges conventional scientific thinking because most studies, until recently, had found no connection between female smokers and breast cancer.
CalEPA scientists based their conclusion on recent human studies that they determined had more careful assessments of long-term exposure to tobacco smoke. The report also gave more weight to toxicology evidence from animal studies than previous studies by the Surgeon General and others.
It's well-documented that chemicals from cigarettes cause breast cancer in lab animals.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-01-25-second-smoke_x.htm
By John Ritter, USA TODAY
SAN FRANCISCO — California regulators will decide today whether to accept a controversial new finding that secondhand smoke causes breast cancer, a decision that could lead to even tougher anti-smoking regulations.
The state's Environmental Protection Agency analyzed recent studies and determined that secondhand smoke causes an average 68% increase in breast cancer risk for women younger than 50. Some women who have not reached menopause have as much as a 120% higher risk, CalEPA's report found.
"This is the most careful analysis of the data up to the most current time frame that exists anywhere," says Cheryl Healton, president of the American Legacy Foundation, an anti-tobacco group in Washington. "It has gone substantially further than anything else I've seen and is carefully vetted through a group of very well-respected scientists."
However, none of the nation's leading cancer research organizations, including the American Cancer Society, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the National Cancer Institute, has endorsed the breast cancer finding.
"We're not disputing that there is a plausibility that secondhand smoke could cause breast cancer," says Harmon Eyre, the American Cancer Society's chief medical officer. "All we're saying is that the evidence has just not reached that level." The disease kills 40,000 women each year in the USA.
A Surgeon General's report on secondhand smoke, which looks at the breast cancer link, is due later this year. The International Agency for Research on Cancer is also studying the issue.
CalEPA's report strengthens existing evidence, accepted in the scientific community, that secondhand smoke causes lung cancer, heart disease, adult asthma, premature birth and sudden infant death syndrome.
If regulators on California's powerful Air Resources Board accept the report today and list secondhand smoke as a "toxic air contaminant," a process would begin to determine whether tougher restrictions on exposure are warranted.
Since passage of a 1983 state law to reduce exposure to toxic air contaminants, the board has never rejected findings approved by the scientific panel that reviews CalEPA's work.
California already has the nation's toughest anti-tobacco laws, including bans on smoking in bars, restaurants and all but a few workplaces. About the only potential areas left are homes, vehicles and some outdoor settings.
Homes are considered off-limits because of privacy concerns, but the board, after studying the potential economic impact, could decide to ban smoking in vehicles carrying children. A 1999 law requires the board to pay special attention to children's heath risks.
The board also could restrict smoking outside building entrances, around ATMs, at amusement parks or outside airport terminals. CalEPA's report contains the first systematic measurements of outdoor exposure levels, says Katharine Hammond, an environmental health sciences professor at the University of California-Berkeley.
In 1997, a CalEPA report was the first to declare secondhand smoke a cause of heart disease, a finding that is now widely accepted. "When they first came out saying there were health effects of secondhand smoke years ago, they were treated with similar skepticism," Healton says.
The Air Resources Board, appointed by the governor, has a history of leading the federal government on environmental issues. In the 1960s, before the federal EPA was created, the board was the first agency to set tailpipe emission standards. Later it required automakers to meet the first standards to control smog-forming emissions.
It also made California the first state to phase out leaded gasoline and to require an additive to cut carbon monoxide emissions. In 2004, the board wrote the first rules requiring automakers to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
The breast cancer finding challenges conventional scientific thinking because most studies, until recently, had found no connection between female smokers and breast cancer.
CalEPA scientists based their conclusion on recent human studies that they determined had more careful assessments of long-term exposure to tobacco smoke. The report also gave more weight to toxicology evidence from animal studies than previous studies by the Surgeon General and others.
It's well-documented that chemicals from cigarettes cause breast cancer in lab animals.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-01-25-second-smoke_x.htm