Health Effects of Passive Smoking: Lung Cancer and Other Disorders
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Report
January 7, 2018 marked the 25 year anniversary of the landmark 1993 EPA report.
The report, “Health Effects of Passive Smoking: Lung Cancer and Other Disorders,” classified secondhand smoke (formerly referred to as Environmental Tobacco Smoke or ETS) as a Group A carcinogen, known to cause cancer in humans (See EPA press release).
This Risk Assessment was one of the first scientific reports from a federal agency linking secondhand smoke to cancer in humans. The findings set off a wave of local and state clean indoor air laws. It also set off a frenzy of tobacco industry efforts, via its lawyers, public relations firms, and front groups, to de-legitimize the EPA and to raise doubt about the health hazards of secondhand cigarette smoke.