Secondhand Smoke Study Raises IreOthers Criticize Research

WebMD ^ | May 15, 2003 | Sid Kirchheimer

[arielb]

May 15, 2003 -- A controversial new study that questions the health risks of being exposed to secondhand smoke -- a factor often said to contribute to some 50,000 American deaths each year -- has outraged some health officials.

The new study, to be published in the May 17 issue of the British Medical Journal, shows no measurable rates of heart disease or lung cancer among nonsmokers who ever lived with smokers, and reports only a slight increased risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Many health agencies, including the U.S. Surgeon General's Office, have long said that secondhand smoke boosts the risk of heart disease by about 30% and lung cancer risk by 25% in nonsmokers.

"We found no measurable effect from being exposed to secondhand smoke and an increased risk of heart disease or lung cancer in nonsmokers -- not at any time or at any level," lead researcher James Enstrom, PhD, MPH, of the UCLA School of Public Health, tells WebMD. "The only thing we did find, which was not reported in the study, is that nonsmokers who live with smokers have a increased risk of widowhood because their smoking spouses do die prematurely."

However, the American Cancer Society blasted the study -- and Enstrom -- for misusing its own data in an attempt to "confuse the public about the dangers of secondhand smoke." And former U.S. Surgeon General Julius Richmond, MD, is expected to join other medical experts in calling the study "bogus" in a news conference on Friday...

[Adder]

" in an attempt to "confuse the public about the dangers of secondhand smoke."

Yeah, we got'em on the run so why confuse things with the truth? We got indoor smoking banned, whole cities to declare themselves smoke free, we are bankrupting the tobacco companies and taking their wealth while we drive them outta business.

How dare you expose us!!

This echoes a previous UNDERREPORTED study that shewed similar findings: the dangers of second hand smoke are a myth.

[pabianice]

May 15, 2003 -- A controversial new study that questions the health risks of being exposed to secondhand smoke -- a factor often said to contribute to some 50,000 American deaths each year -- has outraged some health officials.

And there you have it. These "health officials" are nothing more than Marxists who decide how they want to run your life and then become furious when science shows them they are wrong. It seems a cinch that these same "health officials" are behind the "13 kids killed a day by guns" and other Liberal Big Lies.

[Mister Baredog]

May 15, 2003 -- A controversial new study that questions the health risks of being exposed to secondhand smoke -- a factor often said to contribute to some 50,000 American deaths each year -- has outraged some health officials.

This just confirms the WHO study from years ago, RUSH refers to it periodically, like today!

[E. Pluribus Unum]

IT'S NOT ABOUT SMOKING: IT'S NOT ABOUT GUNS

[E. Pluribus Unum]

WHO Buries "Passive Smoking" Study

[Katya]

Oh thank you for digging that one out....which basically never saw the light of day beyond being posted here.

[Publius6961]

BUMP

[Publius6961]

Can anyone explain to me why this article doesn't bother everyone?
Creating hundreds (or thousands) of laws based on the problem of neurotics is a losing public policy.

The anti-smokers are never content simply to avoid visiting smoking areas, and giving equal access to everyone.
How reasonable is the conviction that the only alternative to smoking everywhere is smoking nowhere?

Arbitrarily asserting something as a basis for laws that restrict freedoms will inevitably allow laws outlawing, say, blondes from entire cities (to give a "ridiculous" example).

Another ridiculous example: "We will never stop and cite and fine people for not wearing lap belts. That's silly!"

Right.

[jimkress]

Not to mention the fact that the Feds had to significantly weaken their statistical test criteria to force a correllation between 'second hand smoke' and illness in associated 'victims'.