Passive smoking 'kills 1,000 people a year'

At least 1,000 people a year are dying from the effects of passive smoking yet the public enjoys less protection from other people's tobacco smoke than from the chimes of ice-cream vans, doctors said yesterday.

Launching a report on the harmful effects of tobacco on non-smokers, the British Medical Association called for a ban on smoking in public places and a health tax on tobacco company profits to promote awareness of the risks.

Millions of vulnerable people were exposed to other people's tobacco smoke, which increases the risk of lung cancer by 20 to 30 per cent and heart disease by 25 to 35 per cent, the BMA said.

Dr Vivienne Nathanson, head of science and ethics, said the figure of 1,000 deaths was conservative. "We have gone through every set of statistics and said let's be as cautious as possible. These are preventable deaths." There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand smoke, the report says.