The Smoking Gun in a Key Health Issue : EPA’s findings on secondhand smoke buttress the demands for statewide restrictions

A new federal report declaring secondhand cigarette smoke to be a carcinogen should clear the air of any lingering doubts about the wisdom of statewide smoking bans.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s long-delayed report, scheduled for formal release today, concludes that cigarette smoke annually kills 3,000 Americans who don’t even smoke. These nonsmokers--whose deaths typically are caused by lung cancer--fall victim to secondhand or “passive” smoke produced by nearby cigarette users. EPA researchers also found that cigarette smoke increases the severity and frequency of pneumonia, bronchitis and asthma in children and increases their risk of a disorder marked by fluid buildup in the middle ear.

The government’s designation of secondhand smoke as a human carcinogen puts it in the same class as radon, asbestos and other established cancer-causing agents.

Not surprisingly, the tobacco industry tried mightily over the last two years to block the EPA report. With its release now at hand, the Tobacco Institute, an industry lobbying group, says the conclusions are unsupported by existing scientific data and that the EPA has “mischaracterized and manipulated the data.” In so doing, the industry maintains its unblemished 30-year record of denying that there is any scientific proof linking cancer and smoking.

But clear away the verbal smoke and the message is clear: Cigarette smoke can be deadly to anyone who breathes it, and no one should have to. But while EPA has the authority to classify secondary smoke as a carcinogen, it cannot impose restrictions that would protect nonsmokers. That goal is best accomplished through uniform statewide regulation rather than a patchwork of conflicting local ordinances.

One such proposal, already before the California Legislature, deserves prompt passage. AB 13, sponsored by Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Encino), would ban smoking in all enclosed places of employment. Friedman sponsored an identical measure last year that died in committee. If his bill succeeds, California could be the first state to adopt a blanket ban on workplace smoking.

Public opinion surveys indicate that most Americans strongly support smoking restrictions. The percentage who smoke continues to drop; in California just 25% of men and 19% of women smoke. The EPA’s new report makes it clear why nonsmokers--a vast majority--should not be endangered by the habit of a shrinking minority.