Data suggest that exposure to secondhand smoke can result in heart disease in nonsmoking adults. Recently, progress has been made in reducing involuntary exposure to secondhand smoke through legislation banning smoking in workplaces, restaurants, and other public places. The effect of legislation to ban smoking and its effects on the cardiovascular health of nonsmoking adults, however, remains a question. Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Cardiovascular Effects reviews available scientific literature to assess the relationship between secondhand smoke exposure and acute coronary events. The authors, experts in secondhand smoke exposure and toxicology, clinical cardiology, epidemiology, and statistics, find that there is about a 25 to 30 percent increase in the risk of coronary heart disease from exposure to secondhand smoke. Their findings agree with the 2006 Surgeon General's Report conclusion that there are increased risks of coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality among men and women exposed to secondhand smoke. However, the authors note that the evidence for determining the magnitude of the relationship between chronic secondhand smoke exposure and coronary heart disease is not very strong. Public health professionals will rely upon Secondhand Smoke Exposure and Cardiovascular Effects for its survey of critical epidemiological studies on the effects of smoking bans and evidence of links between secondhand smoke exposure and cardiovascular events, as well as its findings and recommendations.

This Surgeon General's report returns to the topic of the health effects of involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke. The last comprehensive review of this evidence by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) was in the 1986 Surgeon General's report, The Health Consequences of Involuntary Smoking, published 20 years ago this year. This new report updates the evidence of the harmful effects of involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke. This large body of research findings is captured in an accompanying dynamic database that profiles key epidemiologic findings, and allows the evidence on health effects of exposure to tobacco smoke to be synthesized and updated (following the format of the 2004 report, The Health Consequences of Smoking). The database enables users to explore the data and studies supporting the conclusions in the report. The database is available on the Web site of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco.

This report considers the biological and behavioral mechanisms that may underlie the pathogenicity of tobacco smoke. Many Surgeon General's reports have considered research findings on mechanisms in assessing the biological plausibility of associations observed in epidemiologic studies. Mechanisms of disease are important because they may provide plausibility, which is one of the guideline criteria for assessing evidence on causation. This report specifically reviews the evidence on the potential mechanisms by which smoking causes diseases and considers whether a mechanism is likely to be operative in the production of human disease by tobacco smoke. This evidence is relevant to understanding how smoking causes disease, to identifying those who may be particularly susceptible, and to assessing the potential risks of tobacco products.

Today, massive and conclusive scientific evidence documents the serious health risks that second-hand smoke poses to children, and the list of these health conditions has lengthened. The 2006 Surgeon General's report on The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke concludes that children who are exposed to second-hand smoke are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome, lower respiratory infections, middle ear disease, more severe asthma, respiratory symptoms, and slowed lung growth. Because their respiratory, immune, and nervous systems are still developing, children are especially vulnerable to the health effects of second-hand smoke. In addition, young children typically are exposed to second-hand smoke involuntarily and have limited options for avoiding exposure. They depend on their parents and on adults around them for protection.

In the seamy atmosphere of Miami Beach's Collins Avenue, Mila Katz, a streaky card shark and confidante of mobsters, lives by the wits with which she has survived the Holocaust. Second Hand Smoke is the story of Mila's sons, Issac and Duncan, the one secretly abandoned in Poland, and the other, American-born, raised as an avenging Nazi hunter, poisoned with rage. Told in bursts of fractured realism and dark comedy, Second Hand Smoke is a postmodern mystery of great lyrical power, deep insight, and emotional resonance.

This comprehensive book examines the recent research investigating the characteristics and composition of different types of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and discusses possible health effects of ETS. The volume presents an overview of methods used to determine exposures to environmental smoke and reviews both chronic and acute health effects. Many recommendations are made for areas of further research, including the differences between smokers and nonsmokers in absorbing, metabolizing, and excreting the components of ETS, and the possible effects of ETS exposure during childhood and fetal life.

When twenty-year-old cosmetologist Frank Meyner moved from a tinyWest Texas town to the big city of Fort Worth, he had no inkling of the places his cutting shears would take him. Now, his warmhearted, colorful retelling, Hair Spray, High Heels, and Second Hand Smoke, shares his journey from a small-town boy to the founder of one of the city's leading salons. With its wealth of big hearts and great hair, Meyner's captivating tale follows him from humble Hamlin to Fort Worth for his first job at the exclusive Neiman Marcus, where he served as assistant to the legendary stylist PhillipTrotter. There, he was initiated into the upper echelons of Fort Worth society, giving audience to their colorful lifestyle, myriad eccentricities, and graceful charm. After he leaves the salon for his own chair elsewhere, Meyner eventually grabs the brass curling iron and opens his own salon, in which he styles a highspirited who's who list of always-entertaining patrons for the next thirty years. Amid these "Steel Magnolias" of Fort Worth, Meyner wields his scissors and humor with grace, wit, and humanity. His heartwarming success story turns the salon chair to reveal the generosity, selflessness, and boundless love of this delightful community of customers and colleagues. It's a must for anyone looking for a fabulous lift that's sure to produce a permanent smile.