Skip to main content

Archived Comments for: Are passive smoking, air pollution and obesity a greater mortality risk than major radiation incidents?

Back to article

  1. Underestimation of risk of passive smoking

    michiyuki matsuzaki, Fukagawa City Hospital

    30 December 2007

    I am a physician, and also interested in passive smoking problem. I think this article has a unique viewpoint on risk communication about environmental pollution.

    But I should point out that he underestimated the risk associated with passive smoking. There are some recent articles(1,2) concerning the lifetime all-cause mortality due to passive smoking, suggesting that 10~30% of nonsmokers exposed to environmental tobacco smoke at home will be dead prematurely.

    1)Hill S, et al.: Mortality among "never smokers" living with smokers: two cohort studies, 1981-4 and 1996-9. BMJ. 328:988, 2004.

    2)McGhee SM, et al.: Mortality associated with passive smoking in Hong Kong. BMJ. 330:287,2005.

    Competing interests

    none

Advertisement