Experimental Models of Environmental Tobacco Smoke Exposure: Structural and Functional Changes in Epithelial Cells of the Respiratory Tract

Investigations................................................................................... 255 13.7 Summary and Concluding Remarks ............................................................ 261 Acknowledgments.................................................................................................. 263 References.............................................................................................................. 263

The health effects of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) have been the subject of numerous literature reviews during the past decade. Most of the investigations, which concluded that exposure to ETS may increase the risk of lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cardiovascular disease,

intrauterine growth retardation, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, are based on epidemiological studies (cf. References 1 to 6). In a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) concluded that ETS “may produce mucous membrane irritation, pulmonary, cardiovascular, reproductive and carcinogenic effects” and that ETS “presents a serious health risk to workers.”