In Britain, the Guardian Weekly, after noting the statistical evidence regarding the dangers of smoking, concluded: “The Royal College of Physicians cannot be said to be alarmist in declaring that cigarette smoking is ‘now as important a cause of death as were the great epidemic diseases such as typhoid, cholera, and tuberculosis.’”

Quite literally, cigarette smoke makes many nonsmokers sick. Today’s Health, April 1972, observed: “A recent study showed that more than 70 percent of a sample of healthy nonsmokers exposed to cigarette smoke suffered from eye irritation, nasal symptoms, headache, cough, sore throat or other ill effects.”

Cigarette smoke is extremely toxic, more so than even the deadly exhaust of an automobile. “Impossible!” you may exclaim. Yet observe what an editorial in Science, December 22, 1967, said:

“Concentrations of carbon monoxide as high as 100 ppm [parts per million] often occur in garages, in tunnels, and behind automobiles. Such concentrations are tiny in comparison with those (42,000 ppm) found in cigarette smoke. The smoker survives because most of the time he breathes air not so heavily polluted.”

Yet carbon monoxide is only one of the dangerous substances in cigarette smoke. It also contains hydrogen cyanide. “Long-term exposure to levels [of hydrogen cyanide] above 10 ppm is dangerous,” noted the above Science editorial. “The concentration in cigarette smoke is 1600 ppm.”

Regarding the dangerous air pollutant nitrogen dioxide, Science reports: “Concentrations of NO₂ [nitrogen dioxide] as high as 3 ppm have been noted in Los Angeles, and levels of 5 ppm are considered dangerous. Cigarette smoke contains 250 parts of NO₂ per million.”

Then there is cadmium, which, in large quantities, is an extremely hazardous industrial pollutant that has already caused deaths in Japan. The cadmium in tobacco smoke is a significant source of pollution, according to Dr. Harold G. Petering at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. Smokers and nonsmokers alike absorb it by inhalation. The danger to the nonsmoker is often as great as that to the smoker, Dr. Petering said, since most cadmium is released in the “side stream” that drifts away from the smoker.

Tar and nicotine are probably the most well-known toxic substances in tobacco smoke. And, interestingly, The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) of January 15, 1973, noted regarding them: “Smoke from an idling cigarette contains almost twice the tar and nicotine of smoke inhaled while puffing on a cigarette. . . . Thus, smoke from an idling cigarette may be twice as toxic as smoke inhaled by the smoker.”

The evidence indicates that nonsmokers are harmed by the smoke around them. “There is good hard data to suggest that the nonsmoker in any poorly ventilated, smoke-filled room is endangering his health,” Dr. Albert Soffer, American College of Chest Physicians executive director, told a meeting of his colleagues last October.

Recent medical literature says the same. The JAMA noted earlier this year: “Where the air circulation is typically poor, the nonsmoker will be subjected to a significant health hazard from a smoker.” And the Medical Tribune, February 2, 1972, explained: “Cigarette smoking is injurious not only to the smoker’s health​—it can be harmful to the innocent bystander as well.”

Pointing to the seriousness of the tobacco-smoke problem, a report by Britain’s Royal College of Physicians said: “Action to protect the public against the damage done to so many of them by cigarette smoking would have more effect upon the public health of this country than anything else that could now be done in the whole field of preventive medicine.”