SECONDHAND SMOKE, ALCOHOL RECOMMENDED AS CARCINOGENS

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. -- An advisory commission's decision has paved
the way for secondhand smoke to be placed on the federal government's
official list of cancer-causing substances, over the tobacco industry's
strong objections.

The subcommittee of the National Toxicology Program's Board of Scientific
Counselors voted unanimously on Wednesday to affirm the recommendations of
two groups of government scientists that secondhand smoke should be labeled
a carcinogen.

The panel also concluded that alcoholic beverage consumption can lead to
cancer, and it noted that heavy drinkers and drinkers who smoke are most
susceptible to cancers of the mouth, esophagus, pharynx and larynx.

The panel made its findings in preparation for the ninth edition of the
Report on Carcinogens, the federal government's official list of
carcinogenic agents. The findings will be forwarded to the NTP director,
who will make recommendations to federal Health and Human Services
Secretary Donna Shalala.

In 1993, the federal Environmental Protection Agency declared that
secondhand smoke is a carcinogen. But the government report -- which had
been used to justify tougher smoking restrictions across the nation -- was
struck down in July by a North Carolina-based federal judge who said the
statistics did not show a significant association between the smoke and
cancer.

The latest report will be submitted to Congress and be released to the
public sometime next year.

The 13-0 vote on secondhand smoke came after two hours of debate at the
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Several panelists cited studies indicating that people with prolonged
exposure to environmental tobacco smoke have about a 20 percent higher risk
of developing lung cancer than those who aren't. Spouses and co-workers of
smokers have the greatest risk, the panel said.

Wednesday's decision frustrated members of the tobacco industry.

``The smoker's right to smoke is being impeded upon in a smoke-free
society,'' said Gio Batta Gori, who represented Brown & Williamson Tobacco
Corp. ``Environmental tobacco smoke is an unavoidable nuisance, but there
is no link between (secondhand smoke) and an increased risk of lung cancer.''

Panelists, most of whom are university researchers, seemed visibly
irritated by the research cited by the tobacco industry, some of which has
not been published.

``If it's not published, how can we take it into account in this kind of
setting and at this speed?'' asked Steven Belinsky with the Inhalation
Toxicology Research Institute in New Mexico.

Checked-by: Richard Lake