Car Smoking Ban Proponent Claims Secondhand Smoke is Worse than Firsthand Smoke

According to an article on the WTAE-TV web site (Channel 4, Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania state representative Peter J. Daley, who plans to introduce state legislation that would ban smoking in cars with children, is telling the public that secondhand smoke is worse than active smoking.

The article quoted Representative Daley as stating: "We know that secondhand smoke is worse than firsthand smoke. The studies are all in, and we really want to protect the health of our children."

According to the article, "Daley argued that smoking in a car with a child, even with the windows down, is like smoking in a closet with a child. And while he admits it would be hard to enforce, he believes law enforcement must try."

The Rest of the Story

It may not be the case that this legislator created this fictitious statement on his own. It may well be that he garnered the false information from communications put out by any of a number of anti-smoking groups, which have told the public that secondhand smoke exposure is as bad as active smoking.

Here are some examples of these communications:

1. Anti-Smoking Group Claims that 30 Seconds of Secondhand Smoke is As Bad As a Lifetime of Active Smoking in Terms of Coronary Artery Function (link)

According to an article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, a Minnesota anti-smoking group has publicly claimed that 30 seconds of secondhand smoke is as bad as a lifetime of active smoking in terms of coronary artery function. The group - Association for Nonsmokers (Minnesota) - issued a press release which declared that a mere 30 seconds of secondhand smoke exposure results in coronary artery damage that is indistinguishable from the damage suffered by active smokers (many of whom have smoked for decades).

According to the article, the Association for Nonsmokers press release claimed that: "Just 30 seconds of exposure can make coronary artery function of nonsmokers indistinguishable from smokers."

The Rest of the Story obtained a copy of the press release, dated August 30, which indeed stated:

"Research studies have shown that even just thirty seconds of exposure to secondhand smoke can make coronary artery function of non-smokers indistinguishable from smokers."

2. At Least 18 Anti-Smoking Groups Claim that Secondhand Smoke Causes Heart Damage as Severe as that of Active Smoking (link)

No fewer than 18 anti-smoking groups are publicly claiming that just a half hour of exposure to secondhand smoke causes damage to the heart of nonsmokers similar to the heart damage caused by active smoking.

Smoke-Free Houston: "Even half an hour of secondhand smoke exposure causes heart damage similar to that of habitual smokers."

Smoke Free Galveston: "Even half an hour of secondhand smoke exposure causes heart damage similar to that of habitual smokers."

SmokeFree City: "Even half an hour of secondhand smoke exposure causes heart damage similar to that of habitual smokers."

Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights: "Even a half hour of secondhand smoke exposure causes heart damage similar to that of habitual smokers."

University of Missouri Student Health Center: "Even half an hour of secondhand smoke exposure causes heart damage similar to that of habitual smokers."

GottaQuit.com: "Even half an hour of ETS exposure causes heart damage similar to that of habitual smokers."

Kids Involuntarily Inhaling Secondhand Smoke: "Even half an hour of secondhand smoke exposure causes heart damage similar to that of habitual smokers."

TriCounty Health Department: "A half hour of secondhand smoke exposure causes heart damage similar to that of a habitual smoker."

Virginians for a Healthy Future: "Even a half hour of secondhand smoke exposure causes heart damage similar to that of habitual smokers."

Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (cached): "Even a half hour of secondhand smoke exposure causes heart damage similar to that of habitual smokers."

Washington State Department of Health: "As little as half an hour of secondhand smoke exposure can cause heart damage similar to that caused by habitual smoking according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA. 2001;286:436-441)."

American Public Health Association: "Even a half hour of secondhand smoke exposure causes heart damage similar to that of habitual smokers."

Illinois PIRG: "Just a half-hour of secondhand smoke exposure causes heart damage similar to that of a habitual smoker, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association."

Tobacco Technical Assistance Consortium: "Even a half hour of secondhand smoke exposure causes heart damage similar to that of habitual smokers."

Coalition for a Tobacco-Free Hawaii: "even a half-hour of second-hand smoke exposure can cause heart damage similar to that of habitual smokers."

Bucks County Tobacco Control Project: "According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, even a half hour of secondhand smoke exposure causes heart damage similar to that of habitual smokers."

Hendricks County Coalition for Tobacco Intervention and Prevention: "A half hour of secondhand smoke exposure causes heart damage similar to that of an habitual smoker."

Northwest Arkansas Radiation Institute: "Even half an hour of second hand smoke exposure causes heart damage similar to that of habitual smokers."

3. Anti-Smoking and Health Groups Claiming that Secondhand Smoke is as Hazardous as Active Smoking (link)

According to a number of anti-smoking and health groups, there is one thing that is as bad for your health as smoking - and that's breathing in secondhand smoke. The problem is that in comparing these health risks, these groups are claiming that secondhand smoke and active smoking are equally hazardous. They're not stating that secondhand smoke is dangerous, although not as bad as active smoking. They're telling the public that these hazards are nearly equivalent.

Here are the fallacious claims:

Baltimore Health Department, Tobacco Use Prevention and Smoking Cessation Program: "Second-hand smoke can be as harmful as smoking."

SmokeFree Australia: "New report warns passive smoke almost as harmful as smoking."

Louisiana Public Health Institute: "Comparing the effects of active smoking and secondhand smoke, researchers found that chronic exposure to secondhand smoke is about 80% as harmful as smoking a pack of cigarettes per day."

Hong Kong Tobacco Control Office: "Is secondhand smoke less harmful than active smoke? No!!"

Asante Health System: "Secondhand, or passive, smoking is almost as harmful as firsthand, active smoking."

University of Ottawa Health Services: "True or False, second hand smoke is not as bad than smoking? False. Second-hand smoke has up to 4000 chemicals in it; non-smokers are more susceptible to heart and vascular damage than smokers are, even though they absorb much smaller doses of the smoke toxins."

Fertilitext.org (cached - not active link): "Smoking can have a negative impact on both male and female fertility. It is important to note that exposure to second hand smoke can be just as harmful as smoking itself."

Women's Health (cached - not active link): "Just breathing in the smoke from a smoker is almost as harmful as smoking the cigarette."

The rest of the story is that anti-smoking groups are widely disseminating to the public the message that secondhand smoke exposure is as bad as active smoking.

This is unfortunate for two reasons.

The first, of course, is that it is wrong and it is therefore irresponsible of these anti-smoking groups to be communicating this misleading and inaccurate information to the public.

The second is that these communications may actually work to undermine the public's appreciation of the health risks of active smoking. If active smoking is only as bad as secondhand smoke exposure, then it actually isn't as bad as the public has been led to believe. And why should a smoker quit smoking, if they will still be exposed to secondhand smoke and that exposure is as bad as their active smoking?

In an effort to protect people from secondhand smoke, anti-smoking groups are not only using unethical tactics; they are also undermining much of the work that public health practitioners have done over the past decades in educating smokers about the hazards of active smoking.


(Thanks to JustTheFacts for the tip.)