Mark Eisner
The time has come to ban smoking in all workplaces -- in fact, in all public places in general, UCSF pulmonologist Mark Eisner, MD, MPH, writes in an editorial in the October 11 edition of the
Journal of the American Medical Society.
Eisner wrote the editorial to comment on a study published in the same issue of
JAMA that shows the effects of Scotland's national ban on smoking. Non-smokers working in businesses that previously had high concentrations of secondhand smoke showed rapid improvement in coughing and other symptoms, as well as improved lung function, after smoking was banned.
The Scottish findings add confirmation to the results of a UCSF study published in
JAMA in 1998. In that earlier study, Eisner and his colleagues showed that a no-smoking ban in California bars improved bartenders' respiratory health within a month of working in a smoke-free workplace. At the time, it was the first research to examine the short-term health effects of reducing second-hand smoke. "Now we see similar results from a nationwide ban in a different part of the world," Eisner said.
There is current and compelling evidence of the long-term harm caused by second-hand smoke. Eisner pointed to the U.S. Surgeon General's summary of that evidence in a June 2006 report, "The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke," which found no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke.
Nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke at home or work increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25 to 30 percent and lung cancer by 20 to 30 percent. The finding is of major public health concern because nearly half of all nonsmoking Americans are still regularly exposed to secondhand smoke.
"Smoking is one of the most common avoidable causes of cancer, asthma, heart disease and other life-threatening conditions," Eisner said. "As a public health measure, it's really inexcusable not to eliminate it from all public places."
Related Links:
The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General
United States Department of Health and Human Services, 2006
New Surgeon General's Report Focuses on the Effects of Secondhand Smoke
United States Department of Health and Human Services News Release, June 27, 2006
Bartenders Breathe Easier After Establishment of Smoke-Free Bars and Taverns
UCSF News Release, December 8, 1998
