Kathleen Parker’s July 22 column expresses doubt that secondhand tobacco smoke causes death and illnesses. But evidence is very strong that secondhand smoke causes heart disease and asthma. A review of 10 well-controlled studies in China, Japan, Britain and the U.S. noted that non-smoking spouses of smokers had 30 percent more fatal heart attacks than non-smokers married to non-smokers. Tulane researchers found that exposure to typical indoor concentrations of tobacco caused severe asthma attacks in seven out of 21 asthmatics. A Canadian study of 14,054 schoolchildren found that asthma was 50 percent more common in houses with smokers.
Restricting indoor smoking will improve the health of both smokers and non-smokers and save billions in annual health-care costs.
