New Lancet Study: Second Hand Smoke Increases Heart Attack Risk
Nymox TobacAlert Product Detects Second-Hand Smoke Exposure
HASBROUCK HEIGHTS, NJ (August 22, 2006) Nymox Pharmaceutical's (NASDAQ:NYMX)
TobacAlert� product provides an easy-to-use, cost-effective means of on-site testing
for second-hand smoke exposure without the need for instruments, equipment or specialized
training. A new study published in The Lancet (Aug.19, 2006) from McMaster
University concluded that exposure to second hand smoke increased the risk of heart attack
in both former smokers and nonsmokers. People in the study with the highest levels of
second-hand smoke exposure (22 hours or more per week) had a 45 percent increased risk of
heart attack. The findings were based on data from 52 countries and over 27,000
individuals.
Second-hand smoke poses a serious and pervasive health risk to children and adults
according to a new comprehensive report from the U.S. Surgeon General, The Health
Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke. The report highlights how
vulnerable children in particular are to second-hand smoke. Children exposed to secondhand
smoke are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory
infections, ear problems, worsening of allergies and more severe asthma. The report also
links second-hand smoke to coronary heart disease and lung cancer in adults and notes that
even a brief exposure to second-hand smoke has immediate adverse effects on a person's
cardiovascular system.
TobacAlert measures levels of cotinine, a metabolite of nicotine described in the
Surgeon General's Report as “the biomarker of choice for assessing secondhand smoke
exposure.” Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
recently reported positive results using Nymox TobacAlert� technology combined with
complex laboratory testing (liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry) used in the CDC
laboratory (Journal of Analytical Toxicology November/December, 2005; 29:
814-818).
More information is available at www.tobacalert.com.
More information about Nymox is available at www.nymox.com, email: info@nymox.com, or 800-936-9669.
This press release contains certain “forward-looking statements” as
defined in the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve
a number of risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will
prove to be accurate and the actual results and future events could differ materially from
management's current expectations. Such factors are detailed from time to time in Nymox's
filings with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulatory
authorities.