Other people's smoke kills hundreds: study

Passive smoking is killing 388 New Zealanders a year, including 50 babies, a study has concluded.

The research, financed by the Ministry of Health, puts second-hand smoke at the top of the list of environmental killers - followed by sun exposure, which is blamed for 190 to 200 melanoma deaths each year.

The death rate from inhaling other people's tobacco smoke is not too far behind the road toll, which claimed 509 lives last year.

The report's authors, public health experts Dr Murray Laugesen and Professor Alistair Woodward, say their estimates are conservative.

"What it means is that we need smokefree workplaces," Dr Laugesen said yesterday.

"There is no justification for people to have to breathe dangerous, dirty air at work, when it is capable of causing them heart disease and stroke.

"If we had dirty water causing this many deaths a year we would do something about it because we have legislation. We do not rely on common courtesy to ensure that the municipal water supply is safe."

Health Minister Annette King said the research findings confirmed the need for stronger measures to protect people from second-hand smoke.

Using relative risk assessments, Dr Laugesen and Professor Woodward estimate that passive smoking causes 243 heart disease deaths, 88 deaths from strokes, 50 cot deaths and seven lung cancer deaths each year.

They say Maori are disproportionately affected. They were likely to be surrounded by twice as many smokers per household, because nearly half of Maori adults smoke, whereas fewer than one-quarter of non-Maori smoke. Maori are also more likely to be exposed at work.

Of the 388 deaths, 193 are from exposure to smoke at home and 145 are from workplace exposure.

The director of the Action on Smoking and Health lobby group, Trish Fraser, said that represented 145 deaths that could be prevented by tougher laws.

"All of those deaths are completely preventable ... We have got to stop saying that it has always been like this.

"The Government really needs to look at this and take action where it can.

"Obviously, it can take action in the workplace, but it is not so easy to take action in the home.

"That has to be done through education and media campaigns."

- NZPA