Berezovsky tribute to 'brave and honourable' friend litvinenko

By Jeevan Vasagar

The exiled Russian businessman, Boris Berezovsky, paid tribute last night to the "bravery, determination and honour" of Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian spy, who died last week after ingesting a radioactive poison.

In his first public comments on the case, Mr. Berezovsky said he was "deeply saddened" by the former KGB agent's death, and his thoughts were with Mr. Litvinenko's widow Marina, his son, and the rest of his family.

The two men were friends and allies. Mr. Litvinenko spent time in prison in Russia after going public with a claim that the FSB, Russia's internal security service, ordered him to murder Mr. Berezovsky.

Mr. Berezovsky, who made a fortune from cars, oil and the media, is thought to own the north London house where Mr. Litvinenko lived and also employed him as an adviser.

In a statement, Mr. Berezovsky said: "I am deeply saddened at the loss of my friend Alexander Litvinenko. I credit him with saving my life and he remained a close friend and ally ever since. I will remember him for his bravery, his determination and his honour."

Referring to claims that the Kremlin ordered Mr. Litvinenko's assassination, Mr. Berezovsky said he had already expressed his views and now wanted to let the police get on with their work.

An autopsy of the former spy's body will be carried out on Friday under strict precautions to ensure radioactive contamination does not spread and cause further deaths.

Mr. Litvinenko's death on Thursday led to a public health alert after traces of polonium 210, the lethal radioactive substance found in his body, were discovered at a number of locations in London.

Eight people have been referred to a specialist clinic to be assessed for possible exposure to radiation, the Health Protection Agency said yesterday.

The postmortem examination will take place a day after the inquest is opened at St Pancras coroner's court, north London.

Meanwhile Tony Blair said yesterday that no "diplomatic or political barrier" would be allowed to stand in the way of the investigation into Mr Litvinenko's death. At a press conference while en route to a Nato summit in Riga, Mr. Blair said the death was being treated as a "very, very serious matter".

The Guardian,

November 29, 2006

Soft News mortality rate would plunge without passive smoking

By Martha Kerr

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Eliminating exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke could reduce the number of deaths related to heart disease in the United States by more than 500,000 over the next 25 years, according to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco.

The risk from passive smoking is currently estimated to be equivalent to actively smoking one cigarette per day, Dr. Kirsten Bobbins-Domingo told attendees of the American Heart Association's 7th Scientific Forum on Quality of Care and Outcomes Research, being held this week in Washington, DC.

Using the updated data from the latest National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) and estimates of heart disease risk based on the Framingham Heart Study and other studies, Bobbins-Domingo and colleagues assessed the impact of ending passive smoking, using 2005 as the first year and projecting out to 2030.

Between 15 and 25 percent of individuals report that they are exposed to passive smoke in the home or workplace. Blood samples evaluated for cotinine levels, a chemical marker of exposure to tobacco smoke, indicated that exposure is actually closer to 29 to 43 percent of the population, Bobbins-Domingo told Reuters Health. "More people are exposed to passive smoke than they realize and likewise, the annual heart disease deaths per year (related to passive smoking) are underestimated."

Depending on the level of exposure, Bobbins-Domingo estimated that passive smoking is responsible for between 9,500 and 21,500 coronary heart disease-related deaths annually and between 14,600 and 32,400 heart attacks annually. The lower estimate is based on self-reports of exposure; the higher estimate is based on measurements of cotinine levels in the blood.

If passive smoking were eliminated now, by the year 2030 up to 953,200 new cases of coronary heart disease would be prevented, averting 842,900 heart attacks and 580,600 heart disease-related deaths, she predicted.

"The take-home message is that the burden of passive smoking is very real. This should drive public policy. Passive smoking in public places should be eliminated," Bobbins-Domingo asserted.

"The coasts have been pretty good in adopting these policies. Ten states have a complete ban on workplace smoking… But then there is the whole rest of the country" that is lagging behind.

"A nationwide passive smoking ban would have a dramatic effect," the California investigator concluded. "These public policies can eventually have an effect on personal habits."

Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved