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Talk:Passive smoking

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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 20 August 2018 and 5 December 2018. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Atomic1City*Blonde (article contribs).

2013 Stanford study on the impact of passive smoking on lung cancer among women

In 2013 the Journal of the National Cancer Institute published a study from a team at Stanford University which made world wide news. The study, by a large number of authors headed by Ange Wang, followed up a database of 76,304 women compiled in the 1990s, and found that while current and former smokers recorded much higher rates of lung cancer than non-smokers in the ensuing 15 years, there was no evidence that exposure to second-hand smoke led to a statistically significant increase in rates of lung cancer, other than for women who had been exposed to smoke in their home for 30 years or more.

This was a startling finding, and an important one given the size of the database it drew on, and the fact that the NCI itself had published the study. I looked up this article on Misplaced Pages to find out the considered reactions of expert opinion to the study, and was astonished that in this long article there seemed to be no reference to the study at all. This is a form of censorship which is completely alien to the spirit of Misplaced Pages (I speak as a regular donor). I don't look up Misplaced Pages to read propaganda, however well-intentioned. I look to Misplaced Pages to tell me the facts, but this article seems to ignore the scientific debate and present only one side, one version of "the facts".

I can only agree with the comments made by others on the talk page about this article. It is biased. It is unscientific: with good intentions, no doubt, but Misplaced Pages exists to promote knowledge, not good intentions. This is a lapse of Misplaced Pages's standards.

The study is entitled: "Active and passive smoking in relation to lung cancer incidence in the Women's Health Intiative Observational Study prospective cohort". It was presented to the June 2013 meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago, and published later that year in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (which unfortunately is not accessible from the institute's webpage). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 210.11.146.49 (talk) 07:06, 31 December 2015 (UTC)

Need I remind everyone of this quote from the article:

Despite the industry's awareness of the harms of second-hand smoke as early as the 1980s, the tobacco industry coordinated a scientific controversy with the aim of forestalling regulation of their products

Since the opposing lawyers got their hands on evidence of tobacco industry malfeasance, it has cost them hundreds of billions of dollars in damages. It must be getting closer to $1 trillion by now.
In this particular case, you can find the results of the study by Googling, e.g. Oxford Journals: Annals of Oncology and get the following:

Conclusions: In this prospective cohort of postmenopausal women, active smoking significantly increased risk of all lung cancer subtypes; current smokers had significantly increased risk compared with FS. Among NS, prolonged passive adult home exposure tended to increase lung cancer risk. These data support continued need for smoking prevention and cessation interventions, passive smoking research, and further study of lung cancer risk factors in addition to smoking.

In other words, NOT "no evidence that exposure to second-hand smoke led to a statistically significant increase in rates of lung cancer". Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, and all the other usual caveats regarding scientific research. Also, in the case of second-hand smoke the biggest problem is not lung cancer, which is something of a red herring incidental to the bigger risk of heart disease. As usual in smoking articles watch out for trolls and industry shills reinterpreting the experimental evidence for their own purposes.RockyMtnGuy (talk) 22:52, 31 December 2015 (UTC)
Does *anyone* have a proper citation for this? The article I can find is:
Wang, A; Kubo; et al. (January 2015). "Active and passive smoking in relation to lung cancer incidence in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study prospective cohort". Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology. 26 (1): 221–30. doi:10.1093/annonc/mdu470. PMID 25316260.
However, this was published in 2015, not 2013, and not in J. NCI (or maybe it changed it's nae to J. Eur. Soc. Med. Oncology). Is there another article to which this discussion refers?
And on the webpage of J.NCI (they've put one up I guess in the last two years), I don't find anything either. Jimw338 (talk) 19:04, 8 September 2017 (UTC)

2016 study on the impact of smoking bans on heart disease

Under the effects section, I added a recent large study from a peer-reviewed journal. Here it is - http://mcr.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/09/12/1077558716668646. Doc James deleted my edition on the grounds this was not a secondary source, despite the fact that it was a recent, large, peer-reviewed study that directly rebutted other studies referenced in this section (studies that were also NOT secondary sources). So I deleted said studies (I left the meta-analysis as that was a secondary source). Now THAT change was reverted. You can't have it both ways. Either high quality studies that are primary sources are allowed, or they are not. The deciding factor cannot be whether the study supports or rebuts your pre-conceived opinion on passive smoking. Please either restore my original edit or uphold my latest edit deleting the primary source.Darkthlayli (talk) 14:57, 27 September 2016 (UTC)

Yes, "recent", "primary" and "rebutted other studies" is considered to be a bad combination here, just as MEDRS says. There is clearly a need to update that section, but it should use the best available sources, such as PMID 26242915 PMC 4526291 doi:10.1186/s12889-015-2041-6. We don't really need to use a low value source to support the assertion that correlation does not imply causation, however: in the absence of time travel, nobody has yet proposed a plausible mechanism whereby a later-date reduction in disease might cause an earlier-date passage of legislation.LeadSongDog come howl! 16:49, 4 October 2016 (UTC)
In what way is this a "low value source?" It comes from a peer reviewed journal and has a very large sample size - much larger than the studies it is rebutting. Moreover, it is not primarily making the point "correlation does not imply causation," but demonstrates that there is not even correlation across any kind of decent sample size. You cannot just exlude primary sources you don't like and leave ones that you do.Darkthlayli (talk) 14:09, 7 October 2016 (UTC)
Interesting read: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2017/02/secondhand_smoke_isn_t_as_bad_as_we_thought.html Rka001 (talk) 19:07, 13 February 2017 (UTC)

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Semi-protected edit request on 30 July 2021

It is requested that an edit be made to the semi-protected article at Passive smoking. (edit · history · last · links · protection log)

This template must be followed by a complete and specific description of the request, that is, specify what text should be removed and a verbatim copy of the text that should replace it. "Please change X" is not acceptable and will be rejected; the request must be of the form "please change X to Y".

The edit may be made by any autoconfirmed user. Remember to change the |answered=no parameter to "yes" when the request has been accepted, rejected or on hold awaiting user input. This is so that inactive or completed requests don't needlessly fill up the edit requests category. You may also wish to use the {{ESp}} template in the response. To request that a page be protected or unprotected, make a protection request.

In the intro of the section 'effects' please add that "There is no risk-free level of secondhand smoke exposure. Even brief exposure can be harmful to health." This is supported by citation no. 133 from the CDC fact sheet Also additional sources are from: 

1) US surgeon general:  
2) The EPA: 
3) American Lung Association: 
4) American cancer society: 
5) Australian government Department of health:
6) National Cancer Institute:

Also in the same section's sub-section 'Cancer: General' , please add "Secondhand smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals, of which hundreds are toxic and about 70 can cause cancer." source: citation no.133 from CDC: and from the American cancer society:


Thank you! 2409:4042:2E1F:FE5B:9571:54ED:1ED0:DDFD (talk) 18:32, 30 July 2021 (UTC)

Second part is done. I don't know if we really need the first sentence; it's not like the article implies otherwise. Leaving request open for another opinion. ◢  Ganbaruby!  (talk) 20:47, 5 August 2021 (UTC)
I find the first sentence about no risk-free level to be helpful information for readers. It looks supported by the sources. I'd probably support adding it. ––𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗗𝘂𝗱𝗲 talk 03:29, 6 August 2021 (UTC)
I can see benefits from both. On one hand the article's 3rd sentence screams that it's dangerous and so adding it may be superfluous. On the other, it can be imperative to clarify that the health detriment of the smoke isn't either "nothing" or "horrible disease". I would lean more so on adding it. If we can reasonably get away with further hammering home that smoking is bad, I think we should take it, and the requested addition is extremely inobtrusive from my point of view. Sirdog9002 (talk) 23:05, 9 August 2021 (UTC)

Scene in Runaway Jury

Scene: Lonnie Shaver's fellow jurors request him not to secondhand smoke. Please create "Pop culture" section and mention this. Rizosome (talk) 05:48, 5 August 2021 (UTC)

 Not done. WP:FANCRUFT, not important to the subject. ◢  Ganbaruby!  (talk) 20:43, 5 August 2021 (UTC)
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