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Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Lung Cancer: A Critical Assessment

  • Chapter
Indoor Air Quality

Summary

The possibility that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) may increase the lung cancer risk of nonsmokers has become a cause of public concern. It is unknown whether the levels of carcinogens in the diluted sidestream smoke of tobacco products that reach the nonsmoker’s lung are sufficient to induce cancer. Available epidemiologic studies suggest a slight increase in the relative risk of lung cancer in nonsmokers due to exposure to ETS created by a smoking spouse. However, not all studies have found a significant association. The epidemiologic studies are examined in the light of the criteria of judgment of causality, including strength of association, consistency, temporality, methodological issues, and biological plausibility. Suggestions for further research, including studies in high-exposure populations and greater attention to histology, are proposed.

Research described herein was performed under USPHS, National Cancer Institute Program Project Grant CA-32617.

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Authors
  1. E. L. Wynder
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  2. G. C. Kabat
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health, School of Medicine, Tokai University, Bohseidai, Isehara-shi, Kanagawa, 259-11, Japan

    Hitoshi Kasuga

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© 1990 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Wynder, E.L., Kabat, G.C. (1990). Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Lung Cancer: A Critical Assessment. In: Kasuga, H. (eds) Indoor Air Quality. International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health Supplement. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-83904-7_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-83904-7_2

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-51580-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-83904-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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