Passive smoking is now one of the European Union's major public health problems and children of mothers who smoke while pregnant face especially serious risks, according to a new report.

The report, which was sponsored by the European Commission and co-ordinated by the French National Anti-Smoking Committee, says passive smoking can aggravate chronic illnesses like asthma and heart disease.

The main risks, it says, are bronchial cancer and cardiovascular disease and, among children, respiratory infections and cot death.

Professor Anne Charlton, a cancer specialist at Manchester University and one of the report's authors, said: "There is evidence that both intra-uterine and childhood exposure to passive smoking increases the risk of various cancers."

A ban on smoking in some public places is being supported by the committee

The report, entitled "Passive smoking: the health impact", says women who continue to smoke while pregnant - as do 25% in Britain and 40% in France - greatly increase the chances of a miscarriage or of their baby dying in infancy.

Researchers found that children of parents who smoke were "significantly more likely" to suffer from illnesses such as pneumonia, bronchitis and glue ear - the most common cause of deafness in children.

Based on the work of 30 health experts, including cancer specialists from five EU countries, the report contradicts the claim made by tobacco giant Philip Morris in 1996 that drinking milk or eating biscuits was as dangerous as passive smoking.

The committee's chairman, Professor Gerard Dubois, said: "This report reinforces the evidence against Philip Morris, which has been condemned twice by the French courts for that advertising campaign."

Mr Dubois said the committee would now push for EU-wide legislation to protect non-smokers, such as a ban on smoking in certain public places.

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