Non-smokers at risk of lung cancer

A new study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Policy Research Program has shown that non-smoking people working in environments where they are forced to inhale second hand smoke also breathe in a potent carcinogen that is linked with lung cancer.

The Multnomah County Health Department and Oregon Department of Human Services conducted the study on 52 non-smokers working in 39 different bars and restaurants in Oregon where smoking is permissible. The study revealed that employees working in businesses where smoking is permitted are 6 times more likely to have noticeable levels of carcinogens in their urine.

The participants were asked to give urine samples before and after working their shifts. The research team found that 75% of the participants had detectable levels of NKK, 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone, a carcinogen that causes lung cancer. The team also realised that with each extra hour of work the level of NKK in the urine of the participants increased by 6 percent.

The study is revolutionary as it has shown the effect of second-hand smoke exposure in a confined place for a brief period on non-smokers. The study has also brought to light the fact that the more a person is exposed to such an environment, the levels of the powerful carcinogen continue to increase.

“NNK is a major cancer causing agent from tobacco products and workers should not have to be exposed to any dose of this very dangerous chemical” said Michael Stark of the Multnomah County Health Department and lead author of the study which shall appear in the august issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Several other studies have shown that second hand smoke is linked with asthma, lung cancer, nasal sinus cancer, breast cancer in younger women, heart disease, heart attacks, as well as sudden death syndrome in babies. "This adds to the very strong and growing body of evidence that second-hand smoke exposure is dangerous and people need to be protected," Stark said.

Non-smokers exposed to second hand smoke have an increased risk of 20 percent of lung cancer. According to the American Lung Association, second hand smoke causes 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 46,000 heart disease deaths in adult non-smokers in the United States every year.

Oregon recently became the 22nd state in the U.S to ban smoking in work places including bars and restaurants. The law will come into effect in January 2009. The study has come prior to a week-long conference to be held in Bangkok, Thailand, to discuss implementation of the International Tobacco Control Treaty.