§ Lord Stoddart of Swindonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Upon what irrefutable evidence the Minister for Health made his recent assertion (reported in the Daily Telegraph, 29.12.93) that one non-smoker a day was dying from lung cancer caused by passive smoking.
§ Baroness CumberlegeIn its Fourth Report (published in 1988) the Independent Scientific Committee on Smoking and Health estimated the numbers of lung cancer deaths in non-smokers in the United Kingdom exposed to environmental tobacco smoke over most of their lives as "several hundred deaths per year". This would translate into approximately one non-smoker a day. In a separate report the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last year drew similar conclusions on the health risks of passive smoking.
Copies of both reports are available in the Library.