Additional research has focused on how exposure to secondhand smoke …show more content…
Some research indicates that secondhand smoke is more toxic and potentially more dangerous than the smoke that is directly inhaled by the smoker.14,15 Nationally, the US Environmental Protection Agency has found secondhand smoke to be a risk to public health and has classified secondhand smoke as a group A carcinogen, the most dangerous class of carcinogen.16 A recent report from the US surgeon general on the health consequences of involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke concluded that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke and neither separating smokers from nonsmokers nor installing ventilation systems effectively eliminates secondhand smoke.9 In California, the state Air Resources Board declared secondhand smoke as a toxic air contaminant for which there is no known safe level of