Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 10, 1990 TAG: 9005100239
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
EPA sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the draft assessment includes a statement that "passive smoking" is a known carcinogen, responsible for more than 3,000 cases of lung cancer among non-smokers each year.
Agency spokesman Dave Ryan said he could not discuss the content of the draft until it is submitted to an independent science advisory board, probably later this month.
The agency is not ready to make the draft public yet, because the scientific review "could significantly change its findings," Ryan said.
The EPA sources said the proposed conclusions include a statement that non-smokers develop 3,000 cases of lung cancer each year from exposure to what the agency calls "environmental tobacco smoke" or ETS.
In a statement, the EPA said its risk assessment will classify ETS - the smoke to which non-smokers are exposed at work and elsewhere - "according to the agency's carcinogen assessment guidelines."
It said the risk assessment was based on 24 studies of the association between passive smoking and lung cancer.
The separate policy guide "will describe the technical basis for smoking restrictions as well as the technical and policy options for mitigating exposures" to tobacco smoke, the agency said.
John Banzhaf, executive director of Action on Smoking and Health, an anti-smoking group, said the EPA report could increase pressure for tighter restrictions on smoking.
"I think there's going to be a tremendous breakthrough when the average person realizes that tobacco smoke can kill him or his loved one," Banzhaf said.
"What they will report is that tobacco smoke is more dangerous than all of the other pollutants we regulate put together," he said. "Tobacco smoke is far more dangerous than radon, it is far more dangerous than lead in gasoline, it is far more dangerous than asbestos."
Thomas Lauria, assistant to the president of the Tobacco Institute, said most of the 24 studies on which the draft is based found no significant evidence that tobacco smoke causes cancer among non-smokers. Many of the studies looked at very small numbers of people, or had no connection to smoking in the work place, he said.
"I feel confident that the draft will undergo rigorous analysis," Lauria said. "It is wide open as far as any conclusions are concerned."
Concern about passive smoking escalated in 1986 with two reports. The U.S. Surgeon General concluded passive smoking causes lung cancer, and the National Academy of Sciences said tobacco smoke could raise the risk of lung cancer 34 percent in non-smokers.
by CNB