WASHINGTON – Breathing any amount of someone else’s tobacco smoke harms nonsmokers, the surgeon general declared Tuesday, a strong condemnation of secondhand smoke that is sure to fuel nationwide efforts to ban smoking in public.

“The debate is over. The science is clear: Secondhand smoke is not a mere annoyance, but a serious health hazard,” said U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona.

More than 126 million nonsmoking Americans are regularly exposed to smokers’ fumes ? what Carmona termed “involuntary smoking” and tens of thousands die each year as a result, concludes the 670-page study.

It cites “overwhelming scientific evidence” that secondhand smoke causes heart disease, lung cancer and a list of other illnesses.