The Effects of Tobacco Smoke on the Non-Smoking Cardio-Pulmonary Public

Our plain-English summary of The Effects of Tobacco Smoke on the Non-Smoking Cardio-Pulmonary Public, by C.F. Tate (1977).

The study

• Author: C.F. Tate
• Published: 1977
• Type of article: Conference paper
• Our copy: from Johns-Manville's own medical library. The article is still under copyright, so we describe it here rather than post it.

In plain English

This opinion piece by a physician, apparently a talk, concerns how tobacco smoke affects non-smokers with lung and heart disease. It is not about asbestos and reports no original study. The author described one patient, a 40-year-old widow with a proven allergy to tobacco. She developed wheezing and asthma at her Post Office job, where smoking was allowed, and eventually had to quit; the author lost contact with her. The author stated that inhaled tobacco smoke contains 400 ppm of carbon monoxide and closed smoky rooms often reach 50 to 100 ppm. At condominium social activities in the author's area, evening readings reached as much as 60 to 100 ppm. One cigarette was said to raise the level in an ordinary living room with the windows open from an average of 2 ppm to 8 ppm. The author disputed a 1974 University of Geneva report whose authors felt tobacco smoke posed no public hazard. That view assumed 10 ppm of carbon monoxide in a normal population with adequate ventilation. The author urged an all-out push to lower tobacco smoke levels.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Opinion/commentary paper (apparently a talk to a meeting) drawing on the author's clinical experience, one patient anecdote, and summaries of other published studies; no original study
• Who was studied: No study population. The author drew on experience with private patients and described one patient: a 40-year-old widow with 4 small children who worked at the U.S. Post Office.
• Exposure: Tobacco smoke, including sidestream smoke from others' cigarettes, and its components, especially carbon monoxide; no asbestos exposure is discussed
• Main results:
  • The patient had a proven allergy to tobacco. At her job, where smoking was allowed, she became so tight with wheezing and asthma that she could not get her breath, and she eventually had to quit.
  • The author stated that the carbon monoxide concentration in inhaled tobacco smoke is 400 ppm.
  • In smoke-polluted closed areas such as conference rooms, the author stated that carbon monoxide levels of 50 to 100 ppm are frequently documented.
  • At condominium social activities in the author's local area, where people found they could not breathe because of clouds of tobacco smoke, as much as 60 to 100 ppm was registered in the evening. The duration is printed as "34 hours" and may be damaged by scanning.
  • One cigarette was said to raise the carbon monoxide level in an ordinary living room with the windows open from an average of 2 ppm to 8 ppm.
  • A 1974 University of Geneva report by Korn, Kilburn and Rylander felt there was no hazard to the public from tobacco smoke. That assessment assumed 10 ppm carbon monoxide, resulting in 1.9% carboxyhemoglobin, in a normal population with adequate ventilation. The author doubted that assumption.
• The authors' conclusion: The author concluded, from long years of discussion with patients with lung and heart disease, that efforts to lower tobacco smoke levels should be pushed strongly by all the nations represented at the meeting.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The author was unable to follow up the patient described.

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