[Epidemiology of health problems caused by passive smoking]

Smoking has long been known to cause premature death and different illnesses. Each year 3 million people die from smoking related diseases worldwide. In recent years there has been concern that non-smokers may also be at risk for some of these adverse effects on health as a result of their exposure to tobacco smoke in various environments polluted by smokers. In 1986 the National Research Council and the Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service independently assessed the health effects of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). Both reports conclude that ETS can cause lung cancer in adult non-smokers and that children of parents who smoke have an increased frequency of respiratory symptoms and acute lower respiratory tract infections. The condition of asthmatic children improves significantly when they are removed from ETS. The most severe form of passive smoking is induced by smoking during pregnancy. The effects concern birth weight, complications of pregnancy and impaired development in childhood.