[On the problem of passive smoking (author's transl)].

There is no evidence to date that passive smoking leads in the long run to typical smokers' diseases or to an increased health risk in an average healthy person. There are no plausible reasons to justify the assumption that such disturbances develop in passive smokers in the short term. Exposure to tobacco smoke can, under unfavourable conditions, lead to temporary irritation and impair the feeling of well-being which some persons may experience as a considerable nuisance. There are groups of persons of increased sensitivity and predisposition towards health risks, such as asthmatics and small children. These persons should not be exposed to tobacco smoke. There is the problem of individually determined smell interference by tobacco smoke. Admittedly, numerous questions await still an answer, but there is enough time to clarify them at leisure since passive smoking entails no acute danger of poisoning (cf. Lit. No. 15). In this field the most important task is to study in detail the problem of nuisance caused by smoking, with regard to both the prevailing law and to the demands of air hygiene. A detailed comment on the verdict passed by the Administrative Court of Schleswig closes with the phrase: "The prevention of the detrimental effects to health caused by tobacco smoke constitutes a preeminent task for the public health service and health policy".