Open AccessIs passive smoking in the workplace hazardous to health?
Author(s) -
Alistair Woodward
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of work, environment and health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.621
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1795-990X
pISSN - 0355-3140
DOI - 10.5271/sjweh.1699
Subject(s) - passive smoking , environmental health , medicine , lung cancer , tobacco smoke , cigarette smoking , action (physics) , disease , work (physics) , smoke , geography , pathology , mechanical engineering , physics , quantum mechanics , meteorology , engineering
Apart from evidence on the acute effects of passive smoking, there is relatively little information available on whether breathing other people's smoke at work causes disease. However, exposure does commonly occur at work, and it does not differ qualitatively from passive smoking occurring in other settings. Therefore it appears sensible to extrapolate from what is known about health risks in settings such as the home. There is too little known to quantify precisely workplace risks due to passive smoking. However, the weight and consistency of the epidemiologic evidence, backed up by the data from active smoking, favor a causal link between passive smoking and serious disease, especially lung cancer. In the light of this evidence, enough is known to justify action to reduce smoking at work.