2010 U.S. Surgeon General’s Report

In December 2010, the U.S. Surgeon General published the report, “How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease.” Read the Surgeon General’s Report, Fact Sheet, and press release: http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/reports/tobaccosmoke/index.html

The Report describes in detail the specific pathways by which tobacco smoke damages the human body, and makes new conclusions and recommendations regarding secondhand smoke and smoking. The 2010 Report concluded:

“There is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke. Any exposure to tobacco smoke – even an occasional cigarette or exposure to secondhand smoke – is harmful… and that damage from tobacco smoke is immediate.”

Key recommendations from the 2010 Report:

• “No one should have to breathe secondhand smoke at work or in public places, and parents should ensure that homes, cars and other places frequented by children are smoke-free.”Despite progress in making workplaces and public spaces smoke-free, 4 out of 10 non-smokers and more than 1/2 of children ages 3-11, are still exposed to secondhand smoke, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
• “Federal, state and local policymakers need to to step up their efforts to implement proven measures that reduce tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke. States must increase tobacco taxes, enact smoke-free workplace laws and fully fund tobacco prevention and cessation programs at CDC-recommended levels.” $120 million is the recommended level for New Jersey to fund. The 2010-11 NJ State budget eliminated tobacco control funding, which was previously at $7 million in 2009-10 budget, down from $30 million in 2004 budget

Key findings from the 2010 Report:

• Damage from exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke is immediate.
• Low levels of smoke exposure, including exposures to secondhand tobacco smoke, lead to a rapid and sharp increase in dysfunction and inflammation of the lining of the blood vessels, which are implicated in heart attacks and stroke.
• Exposure to tobacco smoke quickly damages blood vessels throughout the body and makes blood more likely to clot. This damage can cause heart attacks, strokes, and even sudden death.
• The chemicals in tobacco smoke inflame the delicate lining of the lungs and can cause permanent damage that reduces the ability of the lungs to exchange air efficiently and leads to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis.
• The chemicals and toxicants in tobacco smoke damage DNA, which can lead to cancer. Nearly one-third of all cancer deaths every year are directly linked to smoking. Smoking causes about 85% of lung cancers in the U.S.
• The chemicals in tobacco smoke reach your lungs quickly every time you inhale. Your blood then carries the toxicants to every organ in your body.

Key statements from the Associated Press’ December 9, 2010 story on the Report:

• Even a bit of social smoking — or inhaling someone else’s secondhand smoke — could be enough to block your arteries and trigger a heart attack, says the newest surgeon general’s report on the killer the nation just can’t kick.
• “That one puff on that cigarette could be the one that causes your heart attack,” said Surgeon General Regina Benjamin. Or the one that triggers someone else’s: “I advise people to try to avoid being around smoking any way that you can,”
• There is no safe level of exposure to cigarette smoke, whether you deliberately inhale it or are a nonsmoker who breathes in other people’s fumes, the report concludes. Nor is there evidence yet to tell if efforts to develop so-called safer cigarettes really will pan out.
• “How many reports more does Congress need to have to say that cigarettes as a class of products ought to be banned?” asked well-known nicotine expert Dr. K. Michael Cummings of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, who helped to review the report. “One-third of the patients who are in our hospital are here today because of cigarettes.”
• More recently it’s become clear that some of the harms — especially those involving the heart — kick in right away, said Dr. Terry Pechacek of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• When Pueblo, Colo., banned smoking in all public places in 2003, the number of people hospitalized for heart disease plummeted 41 percent in just three years

If you’re a smoker or tobacco user, review our NJ Cessation Resources.