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Thursday, June 29, 2006
Secondhand Smoke: 'Debate is over'
So, whom are you going to trust about secondhand smoke?
Surgeon General Richard Carmona says of a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, "I am here to say the debate is over: The science is clear." He called it "indisputable" that secondhand smoke is responsible for tens of thousands of premature deaths each year among non-smokers.
R.J. Reynolds' Web site says, "It seems quite unlikely that secondhand smoke presents any significant harm to otherwise healthy non-smoking adults."
Well, maybe Reynolds officials hadn't read the CDC report yet.
Parents who smoke should realize their addiction presents health risks to their children, including sudden infant death syndrome.
The report confirms the wisdom of Washingtonians' vote last November to ban smoking in all public places, including restaurants and bars.
Wrinkles remain in the new law's extension of the ban to within a 25-foot radius of doors, windows and ventilation sources. The arcane accommodations invented by some business owners, the at-times flagrant flaunting of the limit by patrons and the impact on neighborhoods may require the Legislature to make some gentle revisions.
But, as the surgeon general asserts, the debate on the science is now settled. It took years to batter down the tobacco industry's unconscionable stonewalling over the health risks of smoking. This report should demolish the industry's bulwark of baloney around secondhand-smoke hazards.
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