Secondhand smoke danger shown in study

     Associated Press
      Nonsmokers who work in a smoking environment have shown physical evidence of a cancer-causing substance in their urine, according to a new study released Tuesday.
      According to the author, the study, presented at the American Chemical Society convention in Las Vegas, marks the first time research has been conducted in the workplace rather than in a laboratory environment.
      The substance, called NNK, was detected in the urine of nine nonsmoking hospital workers caring for patients in a smoking area of a Canadian veterans hospital, said Dr. Stephen Hecht of the University of Minnesota Cancer Center.
      Hecht presented his study, funded by the National Cancer Institute, Tuesday at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.
      The workers' urine samples were collected three times during one day at the end of the work week.
      "This is the first time that a metabolite of a tobacco-specific lung carcinogen has been found in the urine of nonsmokers exposed to environmental tobacco smoke under field conditions," Hecht said.
      NNK is the only known lung carcinogen found solely in tobacco smoke and is formed from nicotine. The amount of NNK found in nonsmokers was about 70 times lower than that found in smokers.
      "These nonsmokers are exposed to a lung carcinogen. It doesn't mean they're going to get cancer," Hecht said. But, he added that there is a "definite low risk" that the nonsmokers with NNK could develop lung cancer.
      Hecht said his research did not look at how long the hospital employees -- doctors, nurses and orderlies -- had worked in the smoke-filled room.
      "I feel certain that in a much larger study you would see the same kind of results," Hecht said.