[JonoBN41]

Since Tom brought it up, I checked on radon. According to the EPA's Radon site:

1) Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer. Smoking causes an estimated 160,000 deaths in the U.S. every year (American Cancer Society, 2004).

2) Radon is the number one cause of lung cancer among non-smokers, according to EPA estimates. Overall, radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer. Radon is responsible for about 21,000 lung cancer deaths every year. About 2,900 of these deaths occur among people who have never smoked.

3) Secondhand smoke is the third leading cause of lung cancer and responsible for an estimated 3,000 lung cancer deaths every year. About 1,000 of these are people that never smoked, and about 2,000 are former smokers.

There is no explanation how they determined those 1,000 non-smokers were not - like the rest of us - exposed to radon, which they claim is ubiquitous. "Radon is found in outdoor air and in the indoor air of buildings of all kinds."

More information can be found at Science Daily. These caught my attention.

"Secondhand Smoke Linked To Risk Of Tooth Loss. (Apr. 4, 2007) — A study published in this month's issue of the Journal of Periodontology found that subjects with periodontitis who were exposed to secondhand smoke were more likely to develop bone loss, the number one cause of tooth loss." The subjects, by the way, were rats that were induced with periodontitis.

"Secondhand Smoke Increases High School Test Failure, Study Suggests (Sep. 24, 2007) — Teens exposed to secondhand smoke at home are at increased risk of test failure in school, suggests a new study." The "new study", it turns out, was a meta-study of the 1958 British National Child Development Study. Buried within the article is the admission that, "The study did not reveal why secondhand smoke influenced failure, and the researchers were unable to include other known factors, for example, learning disabilities, that could also affect learning and academic test performance."
But it made headlines anyway as well as ABC News 9/23/07.

And now shall we ban the ban? My favorite.

"Indoor Smoking Bans: Are They Creating Unhealthy Outdoor Zones For Secondhand Smoke? (May 23, 2007) — With the growing number of smoking bans in restaurants and bars driving smokers outside, researchers are hoping to find out whether secondhand smoke from smokers clustered outside...

Yes, the researchers are hoping.

I have nothing against this sort of entertainment, but do not mistake it for science. There is still no evidence, much less proof, that second-hand smoke is harmful to anyone of any age, with any amount of exposure no matter how long. If there were, there would be no need for these types of stories.