Scientists recommend secondhand smoke, alcohol consumption as carcinogens

By Gary D. Robertson, Associated Press Writer Copyright 1998 Associated Press December 2, 1998

A scientific advisory panel concluded Wednesday that secondhand smoke can cause cancer, casting aside tobacco industry arguments that research about the risks of environmental tobacco smoke is flawed.

The subcommittee of the National Toxicology Program's Board of Scientific Counselors voted unanimously to affirm the recommendations of two groups of government scientists that secondhand smoke should be labeled a carcinogen.

The panel also concluded that alcoholic beverage consumption can lead to cancer, but it noted that heavy drinkers and drinkers who smoke are most susceptible to cancers of the mouth, esophagus, pharynx and larynx.

The panel made its findings in preparation for the ninth edition of the Report on Carcinogens, the federal government's official list of carcinogenic agents. The findings will be forwarded to the NTP director, who will make recommendations to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.

The report will be submitted to Congress and be released to the public sometime next year.

The 13-0 vote on secondhand smoke came after two hours of debate at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Several panelists cited studies indicating that people with prolonged exposure to environmental tobacco smoke have about a 20 percent higher risk of developing lung cancer than those who aren't. Spouses and co-workers of smokers have the greatest risk, the panel said.

"Studies involving spouses and occupational exposure have consistently shown an increased of risk of lung cancer," said subcommittee member Shelia Zahm, deputy director of the National Cancer Institute's Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics.

Secondhand smoke contains some 4,000 chemicals, 250 of which are designated as toxic or carcinogenic, panelists said.

Last year, the subcommittee, which conducts a peer review of research performed by government scientists, concluded that smoking tobacco and smokeless tobacco cause cancer.

The recommendation on secondhand smoke could bolster the cases of plaintiffs in lawsuits involving smoking-related illnesses, but NIEHS environmental toxicology program director George Lucier said the panel's mission was strictly scientific.

"We're scientists, not litigators," Lucier said. "Our clients are the various regulatory agencies and the public.... I understand the potential use of such a decision. But that's not what we do."

Wednesday's decision frustrated members of the tobacco industry, who found no evidence in the studies cited by panel members supporting an increased risk from secondhand smoke.

"The smoker's right to smoke is being impeded upon in a smoke-free society," said Gio Batta Gori, who represented Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. "Environmental tobacco smoke is an unavoidable nuisance, but there is no link between (secondhand smoke) and an increased risk of lung cancer."

Panelists, most of whom are university researchers, seemed visibly irritated by the research cited by the tobacco industry, some of which has not been published.

"If it's not published, how can we take it into account in this kind of setting and at this speed?" asked Steven Belinsky with the Inhalation Toxicology Research Institute in New Mexico.

Earlier Wednesday, the panel voted 9-3, with one abstention, to approve the proposal to label consumption of alcoholic beverages as a potential cause of cancer.

The majority voting for the designation did not limit it to heavy drinkers or differentiate between social drinkers and alcoholics.

"Our charge is not determine whether (alcohol) is carcinogenic at a high dose or at a low dose," Zahm said. "Our charge is to determine whether it is carcinogenic at any dose."

The subcommittee was scheduled to consider the carcinogenic potential of diesel exhaust on Thursday.

Comments on this posting?
Click here to post a public comment on the Trash Talk Bulletin Board.
Click here to send a private comment to the Junkman.

---

Material presented on this home page constitutes opinion of Steven J. Milloy.

Copyright © 1998 Steven J. Milloy. All rights reserved on original material. Material copyrighted by others is used either with permission or under a claim of "fair use." Site developed and hosted by WestLake Solutions, Inc.