Slaying myths about passive smoking

It is over 30 years since the appearance of the first English language reports indicating that passive smoking is harmful to the respiratory health of infants and children,1,2 and almost a quarter of a century has elapsed since publication of the first two papers pointing to an increased risk of lung cancer in non-smoking adults who live with smokers.3,4 The first of these events passed without much discussion but, by the time the second occurred, the tobacco companies were ready with a strategy to oppose what they had been advised was “the most dangerous development yet to the viability of the tobacco industry that has yet occurred”.5 That strategy went beyond disputing the science to “playing the man”; Hirayama’s credentials as a scientist were called into question. Fully nine years later, he was spirited away from the 7th World Conference on Tobacco and Health in Perth, Western Australia, when it seemed that the tobacco companies were about to serve him with a writ. The Director of Action on Smoking and Health (Australia) was unsuccessfully hauled through the courts, and both the editor of this journal and the author of this editorial were served with legal papers designed to prevent them speaking in public about passive smoking6 while they were involved in preparation of the second report on the issue from Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council.7 That tactic backfired, however, when we called a press conference and described the attempt to gag us.

PERNICIOUS MYTHS

Such direct confrontations are rare, and it may be that the industry’s taste …