Rasheed, who does not drink, sees a bit of a contradiction in his colleagues' prejudices against smoking. Drinking is still very much accepted by a lot of physicians. Like millions of chippers, Rasheed would appear to be one of those lucky individuals who isn't genetically inclined toward substance addiction. As shaky as they are on the topic of social smoking, each of the three public health experts interviewed for this story brightened noticeably when asked to enumerate the health risks facing daily smokers. And while the increase in risk for lung cancer is slightly higher than for other smoking-related illnesses, epidemiologists have measured similar spikes in the risks of coronary heart failure, emphysema and stroke for daily smokers.
Researchers know too that the health risks associated with smoking are dose sensitive.
Therein may lie a partial answer to the question of social smoking. While a passive smoker may still breathe more tobacco smoke than the average chipper, passive smoking represents by far the lowest level of nicotine intake that has been seriously studied by tobacco researchers. And passive smokers, researchers have found, are 20 to 50 percent more likely to develop lung cancer than true nonsmokers and roughly 30 percent more likely to develop coronary heart disease. While that is a measurable increase in risk, it is very small when compared to the risk levels associated with daily smoking. And that doesn't take into account the fact that many chippers probably take in far less cigarette smoke than do the passive smokers studied by epidemiologists.