A BOLTON eye doctor whose research linked smoking to blindness, is backing claims that passive smoking can be just as dangerous.

Dr Simon Kelly, consultant ophthalmic surgeon at the Royal Bolton Hospital, says that for people subjected to passive smoking, the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is double that of non-smokers.

AMD is the most common form of blindness in the elderly.

Dr Kellys comments follow a report published this week by a team of researchers from Cambridge University on the risks facing people who live with smokers. The researchers looked at the cases of 435 people with extreme forms of AMD in Britain and 280 partners who lived with them.

They found that the more an individual smoked, the greater their chance of developing AMD.

The risk for those who smoked more than a packet a day for 40 years almost tripled the risk compared with non-smokers. The dangers also doubled for partners who lived with a smoker for five years or more.

Dr Kelly said: This is an important study because it adds weight to the argument about the dangers of passive smoking.

It is part of the mounting evidence of smoking damaging not only smokers eyes, but also those of their neighbours.