Principal findings of NAS / NRC

THE HEALTH COMMUNITY has been concerned about the health effects of smoking on smokers for over two decades. With recent reports by the Surgeon General' and the National Academy of Sciences,2 a consensus has emerged that smoking also endangers nonsmokers who breathe secondhand smoke (table 1). Although there are always more details to learn, these reports effectively close the scientific case against secondhand smoke and will most certainly speed the spread of legislation protecting nonsmokers from the toxic chemicals in secondhand smoke. The history of such legislation dates back to the Minnesota Clean Indoor Air Act passed in 1975. As the health establishment, with its considerable resources, joins existing activist groups that have been working in this area for the last 10 years, there is no question that the rate of progress toward clean indoor air will substantially increase.