Media release:                                                                                         December 10, 2004

Breast cancer concern 
prompts call for quicker smokefree venues 

 NZ bars, workplaces smokefree as studies show passive dangers

Australian health and union groups have called for shorter smokefree workplace deadlines and tighter outdoor restrictions - as new research points to a link between secondhand smoke and breast cancer.

The call comes on the day (December 10) New Zealand bars and all workplaces become fully indoor-smokefree. Some Australian states will not follow until mid-late 2007.

The SmokeFree Australia coalition has called for deadlines in NSW, Victoria and South Australia to be shortened, and for all states and territories to extend the bans to crowded staffed outdoor areas, after new studies release in the past month showed:

• Women exposed to tobacco smoke are 2.6 times more likely to contract breast cancer. A survey by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare just published in the International Journal of Cancer  showed adverse effects from passive smoking were particularly damaging among pre-menopausal women.  Hanaoka T et al, National Cancer Center, Tokyo in Int J Cancer (Nov 11 2004)   
• If people congregate in an area where there's smoking, even with no roof, they will be exposed to significant secondhand smoke, often at levels comparable to indoors.  A US Air Resources Board report confirming this, proposes listing tobacco smoke outdoors as a "toxic air contaminant."  
  See report at  www.arb.ca.gov/toxics/ets/dreport/dreport.htm

Says Andrew Ellerman, chair of the Tobacco Issues Committee of The Cancer Council Australia: “This new study linking breast cancer with secondhand smoke exposure confirms another recent study’s findings – raising this to the status of a worrying possibility.

“Many bar workers and entertainers are women, many of them middle-aged and thus in the highest risk group. These women should not be exposed to this danger for even another year, let alone two to three years as is proposed in at least three states.

“We would like to see these deadlines shortened in the light of this research. We would also like to see loopholes closed in various states to end gaming room exemptions and ban smoking in crowded outdoor areas where staff are working.

“This is urgent. If New Zealand can do it, why can’t Australian state governments?”

Comment:       Andrew Ellerman, The Cancer Council Australia   m. 0419-819-923
           Anne Jones, ASH Australia                      m. 0417-227-879
           Stafford Sanders, SmokeFree Australia     ph. (02) 9334-1823;  m. 0412-070-194

SmokeFree Australia coalition for clean safe workplaces:
Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers’ Union;  Musicians’ Union of Australia;  Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance; Australian Council of Trade Unions; Action on Smoking and Health Australia; The Cancer Council Australia; National Heart Foundation of Australia; Australian Council on Smoking and Health; Non-Smokers’ Movement of Australia; Australian Medical Association; Asthma and Allergy Research Institute.

Back to SFAust index                                                                                   Back to SFAust news page