The head of a national cancer organization Friday urged the federal government to ban smoking in public places to reduce the growing number of cancer cases.
On Thursday the Environmental Protection Agency classified secondhand tobacco smoke as a carcinogen that poses a serious cancer threat.Dr. R. Michael Williams, who is an oncologist, chief medical officer of Cancer Treatment Centers of America and chairman of the Cancer Consulting Group, said the government must set stricter limits on the level of carcinogens that are allowed in public places, including the workplace.
"The EPA's announcement is a landmark in the fight against cancer," said Williams, whose father began smoking at the age of 9 and died of lung cancer at 46. "Radical steps must be taken to move their findings from theory into a practice that could save lives.
"I am personally concerned with developing cancer myself since I've been subjected to sdcondhand smoke my entire life."
Cancer Treatment Centers of America operates facilities in Tulsa, Okla., and near Chicago in Zion, Ill. A third facility is set to open near Los Angeles, in Brea, Calif.