Examination of Witnesses (Questions 432-439)
PROFESSOR SIR
LIAM DONALDSON
24 NOVEMBER 2005
Q432 Chairman: Good morning.
Could I welcome you to the Committee and ask you to introduce
yourself for the sake of the record.
Professor Sir Liam Donaldson:
I am Liam Donaldson and I am the Chief Medical Officer in the
Department of Health.
Q433 Chairman: Thank you
very much for coming to help us with this inquiry. How serious
a risk to health is second-hand tobacco smoke? How well established
is the science in your view?
Professor Sir Liam Donaldson:
All the scientific evidence is clear. I think any doubts or scepticism
about the health impact of second-hand smoke are resolved scientifically
in my view.
Q434 Mr Amess: Could you
give us some precise details of the scientific evidence that you
are referring to? When was it conducted? How was it conducted?
In what circumstance was it conducted?
Professor Sir Liam Donaldson:
There have been a lot of detailed studies carried out over the
years of people who live with smokers. There have been syntheses
of the research evidence by major international bodies and expert
committees that have reviewed the validity of the research and
essentially the risks to non-smokers of inhaling a smoker's smoke
through being exposed to 50 carcinogens, which is roughly the
number of cancer causing chemicals in cigarette smoke, and to
carbon monoxide. There are both short-term risks of an increased
risk of clotting of the blood and therefore of a heart attack
and longer-term risks such as cancer, coronary heart disease,
chronic bronchitis and promoting asthma attacks in children.
Q435 Mr Amess: I accept
all of that, but you are our Chief Medical Officer and you are
still dealing in generalisations. We are trying to gather evidence.
Can you refer the Committee to at least one particular study?
Can you tell us when it was carried out, who carried it out and
how it was carried out? You are speaking about the generality
of the situation. We have got lots of evidence on that. As our
Chief Medical Officer assisting the Government, as best you are
able to, can you direct us precisely to one study?
Professor Sir Liam Donaldson:
I think that would be misleading so to do because one study on
its own is seldom proof.
Q436 Mr Amess: Give us
half a dozen studies and we will look at them all.
Professor Sir Liam Donaldson:
I think I would point you to the very formidable and rigorous
syntheses and analysis of research that has been done by numerous
expert bodies.
Q437 Mr Amess: Can you
not say that "Mr Brown" carried out a study somewhere?
You are our Chief Medical Officer. Surely you could refer us to
some precise studies that were carried out instead of just generalisations.
Professor Sir Liam Donaldson:
It is not a generalisation. It is pointing to the importance of
looking at the entirety of scientific evidence where it is brought
together rather than looking at a single study in isolation.
Q438 Mr Amess: I am asking
you precisely to refer me to some scientific evidence, who the
professors were who carried it out and when they carried it out.
Surely you must be able to give us one example. Are you not able
to?
Professor Sir Liam Donaldson:
It is not that I am not able to. I think to choose one study in
isolation—
Q439 Mr Amess: Give us
half a dozen.
Professor Sir Liam Donaldson:
I think I would point you to the major expert reports that have
been done into the risks of second-hand smoke which have summarised
the research evidence. Some of them have been done on an international
level and some of them have been done nationally.
| 
