Workplace smoke exposure 'doubles cancer risk'

From net doctor.co.uk

People who are highly exposed to smoke in their places of work are twice as likely to contract lung cancer as a result, it has been claimed.

By reanalysing 22 separate existing studies, US scientists say they have proved that passive smoking significantly increases the risk of lung cancer. Publishing their results in the American Journal of Public Health, researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago say that even light levels of smoke exposure raise the likelihood of lung cancer by 24 per cent. Lead author Leslie Stavner, an epidemiologist at the university, and the research team complemented their findings by analysing workers' level and duration of exposure to passive smoke and instances of lung cancer. "We believe this provides the strongest evidence to date of the relationship between workplace environmental tobacco smoke and lung cancer," Professor Stavner writes. A smoking ban in public places is expected to be enforced in England from the beginning of July this year onwards.

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