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Secondhand smoke exposure down by half in U.S.: report

Xinhua, February 4, 2015 Adjust font size:

Secondhand smoke exposure in the United States dropped by half over the past decade, according to a report released Tuesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC report found the percentage of Americans exposed to secondhand smoke declined from 52.5 percent in 1999-2000 to 25.3 percent in 2011-2012.

The study assessed exposure using cotinine, a marker of secondhand smoke found in the blood.

The overall decline in secondhand smoke exposure was attributed to several factors, the report said.

Almost 700 cities, plus 26 states and the District of Columbia, have banned smoking in public places such as worksites, restaurants, and bars. These state and local laws currently cover almost half the U.S. population, the report said.

The report also found that a growing number of households have adopted voluntary smoke-free home rules, up from 43 percent in 1992-1993 to 83 percent in 2010-2011.

In addition, cigarette smoking has declined significantly in the last two decades and smoking around nonsmokers has become much less socially acceptable.

Despite such progress, one in four nonsmokers, or 58 million people, are still exposed to secondhand smoke in the U.S.

The report, based on a national health and nutrition examination survey, showed that declines in exposure to secondhand smoke have been slower and exposure remains higher among children, blacks, those who live in poverty, and those who live in rental housing.

In particular, two in every five children aged three to 11 years are still exposed to secondhand smoke.

"Secondhand smoke can kill. Too many Americans, and especially too many American children, are still exposed to it," said CDC Director Tom Frieden.

"That 40 percent of children -- including seven in 10 black children -- are still exposed shows how much more we have to do to protect everyone from this preventable health hazard," Frieden said.

According to the CDC, there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke, which contains over 7,000 chemicals including about 70 that can cause cancer.

The agency estimated that each year exposure to secondhand smoke causes more than 41,000 deaths from lung cancer and heart disease among non-smoking adults and 400 deaths from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in the U.S., as well as about 5.6 billion U.S. dollars annually in lost productivity. Endite