Half of U.S. non-smokers exposed to smoke

ATLANTA, July 10 (UPI) -- Almost 50 percent of non-smokers in the United States are being exposed to secondhand smoke, government health officials said.

Although secondhand smoke exposure has declined markedly in the U.S. population since the late 1980s, 46 percent of non-smokers had detectable levels of serum cotinine, a biochemical measurement of secondhand smoke exposure, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report said.

Reported secondhand smoke exposure in the home declined from 21 percent to 10 percent. Serum cotinine levels, a biochemical indicator of any detectable secondhand smoke exposure, declined from 84 percent to 46 percent from 1988 to 1994.

From 1999 to 2004, children were four times more likely to be exposed at home than were adults -- 23.8 percent versus 5.9 percent. A higher percentage of non-Hispanic blacks and persons from low-income families were exposed to secondhand smoke than their counterparts.