[C-U Smokefree] Latest research on heart disease from secondhand smoke exposure

[Theotskl at aol.com]

Hi all--

this is the latest and most advanced study todate on the relationship between 
second hand smoke exposure and heart disease.
The note below comes from UC-San Francisco School of MEdicine Prof. Stan 
Glantz.

Cheers.

Dr. Tsoukalas

Professor Glantz writes:

The British Medical Journal just published an important new study that
shows that the risks of heart disease associated with passive smoking are
twice what was previously thought and are virtually indistinguishable from
active smoking.

The reason that they found these higher risks is because, rather than using
marriage to a smoker or working in a smokely environment as their measure
of exposure, they used plasma cotinine, a direct biochemical measure of
total seocndhand smoke exposure.  By doing so, they captured the entire
exposure effect.  (The left column of the last text page of the paper
explains this point very well.)

You can read the whole study at
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/abstract/bmj.38146.427188.55v1 .