Death clock: secondhand smoke hype.LAST SUMMER, in a press release that accompanied his report on secondhand smoke sec·ond·hand smoke n. Cigarette, cigar, or pipe smoke that is inhaled unintentionally by nonsmokers and may be injurious to their health if inhaled regularly over a long period. Also called passive smoke. , Surgeon General The U.S. Surgeon General is charged with the protection and advancement of health in the United States. Since the 1960s the surgeon general has become a highly visible federal public health official, speaking out against known health risks such as tobacco use, and promoting disease Richard Carmona claimed "even brief exposure to secondhand smoke" adversely affects the cardiovascular system cardiovascular system: see circulatory system. cardiovascular system System of vessels that convey blood to and from tissues throughout the body, bringing nutrients and oxygen and removing wastes and carbon dioxide. and increases the risk of heart disease. How brief? Supporters of smoking bans have been competing to answer that question, with each claim less plausible than the last. Michael Siegel, a physician and a professor at the Boston University School of Public Health Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) is Boston University's graduate School of Public Health. It is located in the heart of Boston University's Medical Campus in the South End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The Dean is Robert Meenan. , has been tracking the claims on his blog (tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.com). In November 2005, Siegel faulted the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids for asserting that "as little as 30 minutes of exposure to secondhand smoke can trigger harmful cardiovascular changes, such as increased blood clotting blood clotting, process by which the blood coagulates to form solid masses, or clots. In minor injuries, small oval bodies called platelets, or thrombocytes, tend to collect and form plugs in blood vessel openings. , that increase the risk of a heart attack." The following April, Siegel counted 65 anti-smoking groups that were attributing various adverse cardiovascular consequences, included hardening of the arteries hardening of the arteries: see arteriosclerosis. and heart attacks, to a half-hour of second-hand smoke. One of those groups, SmokeFree Ohio, was also claiming that merely 20 minutes of exposure causes a nonsmoker's platelets to become "as sticky as a smoker's," increasing the chance of a heart attack. Not to be outdone out·do tr.v. out·did , out·done , out·do·ing, out·does To do more or better than in performance or action. See Synonyms at excel. , SmokeFree Wisconsin began warning that after five minutes of exposure, "your body starts closing off arteries." In October the Minnesota Association for Nonsmokers declared that "just thirty seconds of exposure to secondhand smoke can make coronary artery function of non-smokers indistinguishable from [that of] smokers." As Siegel notes, neither Carmona's report nor the "fact sheets" produced by anti-smoking groups offer evidence to support such claims. Since cardiovascular disease takes many years to develop in smokers, who absorb much larger amounts of the chemicals generated by tobacco combustion than bystanders do, the activists' accounts suggest that cigarette smoke defies the rules of toxicology, becoming more potent as the dose becomes smaller. Imagine what zero seconds of exposure could do. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion