Smoking link to asthma
10 March 2004

Exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke can cause asthma, said experts at the National Asthma Campaign on No Smoking Day (10 March).

A study in Finland concluded that an adult's risk of developing asthma for the first time was doubled if they were exposed to smoke at work, but multiplied by five if they lived in smoking households. In 2003 American research indicated that children whose parents smoke are 1.5 times more likely to develop asthma.

'There is overwhelming scientific evidence that secondary smoke not only exacerbates asthma symptoms and brings on attacks, but can actually cause the condition, said Martin Dockrell, the Campaign's Assistant Director of Policy & Public Affairs.

82% of people with asthma say that other people's cigarette smoke makes their symptoms worse; about half will try to steer clear of smoky bars and pubs because they know their health will suffer. A British Medical Association survey last year found that in the UK about 1,000 people die every year through the effects of breathing in secondary smoke.

Children with asthma from households with two or more smokers are five times as likely to be off school with breathing problems than their peers from non-smoking homes.

'5.1 million people in the UK have asthma – the highest rates in the world – costing the NHS about £850m a year,' said Martin Dockrell. 'Around 13 million people (about 27%) in the UK currently smoke, and we know that young adults with the habit more than double their chance of developing asthma symptoms. We should be trying to prevent people smoking in order to reduce these figures.'

Experts at the Campaign believe that a step in the right direction would be to ban smoking in public places: 'We are calling for all public places to be made smoke-free,' said Marjory Burns, the Campaign's director for Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland. 'We believe that people with asthma should have the personal freedom to breathe clean air and the right not to have their health put at risk by second-hand smoke.

'There are 10 million smokers in the UK who want to give up,' she added. 'In support of No Smoking Day 2004, we encourage them to do so - not just for the sake of their own health, but also for the sake of their children, partners, colleagues and friends.'