Second-hand smoke

According to the Scottish Health Survey the sharp decrease in non-smokers' exposure to second-hand smoke seen in the decade between 1998 and 2008 was maintained in 2010. Non-smokers' exposure to second-hand smoke in the home has fallen from 18% in 1998 for both sexes to 9% for men and 8% for women in 2010. As seen in previous years, exposure to second-hand smoke varies with age. For example, the proportion of male non-smokers who said they were never exposed to other people's smoke at home, work or in public places, rose from 48% of those aged 16-24, to 71% of those aged 25-34 before rising more gradually to 94% of men aged 75 or older. A similar pattern was apparent for female non-smokers.

Scottish Health Survey 2010, Scottish Government, Main Report, Chapter 4 - Smoking.  Available from: www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/09/27084018/32[Accessed 27 September 2011]

Health hazards of second-hand smoke

Second-hand smoke (SHS), also referred to as passive smoking or Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS), is a serious public health risk. The 2006 US Surgeon General's report referred to second-hand smoke as "a serious health hazard that can lead to disease and premature death in children and nonsmoking adults."

In March 2010, the Tobacco Advisory Group of the Royal College of Physicans launched a major new report entitled ' Passive smoking and children' which outlined how children are particularly vulnerable to passive smoke exposure, most of which occurs in the home.  About 2 million children currently live in a household where they are exposed to cigarette smoke and many more are exposed outside the home.  Using evidence-based studies and additional analysis,  the report contains alarming new estimates for key measures of health damage attributable to passive smoking, which for children each year causes:

• Over 20,000 cases of lower respiratory tract infection
• 120,000 cases of middle ear disease
• At least 22,000 new cases of wheeze and asthma
• 200 cases of bacterial meningitis
• 40 sudden infant deaths - one in five of all SIDs.

ASH Scotland has received funding from the Big Lottery Fund to manage a new research project called REFRESH (Reducing families' exposure to second-hand smoke in the home).  This project will deliver a portfolio of research to develop tools for community health workers to help them reduce children's exposure to second-hand smoke, particularly in deprived communities.

Legislation to reduce exposure to second-hand smoke

At 6am on 26th March 2006, Smoke-free legislation was implemented in Scotland. The Smoking, Health and Social Care (Scotland) Act 2005 banned smoking in enclosed public places (with limited exemptions) and in doing so helped protect the Scottish public from the dangers of second-hand smoke.

• National evaluation of Scotland's smoke-free legislation
• Cochrane Library intervention review 2010:  Legislative smoking bans for reducing secondhand smoke exposure, smoking prevalence and tobacco consumption
• International Agency for Cancer Research:  Evaluating the effectiveness of smoke-free policies (2008)

Further resources

• Latest research on second-hand smoke (updated weekly)
• NEW: Secondhand smoke in cars: assessing children's potential exposure during typical journey conditions. Sean Semple, Andrew Apsley, Karen S Galea, Laura MacCalman, Brenda Friel, Vicki Snelgrove.   Tobacco Control Published Online First: 4 January 2012 doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2011-050197.
• NEW: Association Between Smokefree Laws and Voluntary Smokefree-Home Rules Kai-Wen Cheng, PhD, Stanton A. Glantz, PhD, and James M. Lightwood, PhD. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Volume 41, Issue 6 (December 2011)
  
• Smoke-free Legislation and Hospitalizations for Childhood Asthma
  Daniel Mackay, Ph.D., Sally Haw, B.Sc., Jon G. Ayres, M.D., Colin Fischbacher, M.B., Ch.B., and Jill P. Pell, M.D. New England Journal of Medicine,  2010; 363:1139-1145, September 16, 2010
• ASH Scotland briefing on child exposure to second-hand smoke in the home (March 2010 - updated February 2011) (pdf 83kb)
• ASH Scotland briefing on smoking in cars(April 2009 - updated February 2011) (pdf, 65kb)
• The health consequences of involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke: a report of the Surgeon General (2006)
• Passive smoking and associated causes of death in adults in Scotland(2005) 
  This report estimates the number of deaths from the major-smoking-related causes of deaths in Scottish adults that can be attributed to passive smoking. Published by NHS Health Scotland.
• SCOTH Report: secondhand smoke, review of the evidence since 1998(2004) 
  UK Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health (SCOTH) report published in November 2004 -provides an update of the evidence on health effects of second-hand smoke.
• A Killer on the Loose (2003) 
  April 2003 Report written by international expert on environmental tobacco smoke James Repace, showing that around 12000 UK non-smokers die each year as a result of their exposure to secondhand smoke. Published by ASH in London.
• WHO Report (2000)  Policies to Reduce Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke.