BMJ  2005;330 (5 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7486.0

Evidence is unfavourable for passive smoking

Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke is a risk factor for respiratory diseases, including cancer, in non-smokers or people who quit smoking more than 10 years ago. In a case-control study of 123 479 non-smokers nested in the multicentre EPIC cohort of 500 000 people, Vineis and colleagues (p 277) found significant correlations of cancer of the lung, pharynx, and larynx, as well as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or emphysema, with participants' passive smoking status. McGhee and colleagues (p 287) found a dose-response relation between passive smoking and mortality from stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, ischaemic heart disease, and all cause mortality. Evidence is gathering that strengthens the causal link, they say.

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