The debate continues. Take note:
California became the first state to declare secondhand smoke a toxic air pollutant on Thursday.
In making the decision, by a unanimous vote, the California Air Resources Board relied on a September report that found a sharply increased risk of breast cancer in young women exposed to secondhand smoke.
The report by scientists at the state's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment drew on more than 1,000 other studies of the effects of passive smoke. It blamed secondhand smoke for 4,000 deaths each year in California from lung cancer or heart disease.
The most significant new finding is that young women exposed to secondhand smoke increased their risk of developing breast cancer by 68 percent to 120 percent.
That conclusion conflicts with a 2004 report by the U.S. surgeon general. Sanford Barsky, a researcher writing on behalf of the R.J. Reynolds tobacco company, told the board in previous testimony that the state report "either ignores mentioning or does not give the appropriate weight" to studies refuting a link between secondhand smoke and breast cancer.
California scientists say their research is more current than the surgeon general's report.
An R. J. Reynolds spokesman said that regardless of the dangers from passive smoke indoors, no research supports regulators' decision to declare it an air pollutant.
