Second Hand Smoke - Passive Smoking Effects

Second Hand Smoke - Passive Smoking Effects
Everyone knows that smoking is bad and unhealthy. In fact, cigarette smoking causes an estimated 443,000 deaths in the United States every year. Smoking accounts for 90 percent of all lung cancer deaths in men and 80 percent of all lung cancer deaths in women. Smoking can also cause coronary heart disease - the leading cause of the death in the U.S.

In addition to lung cancer, side effects of smoking include acute myeloid leukemia and cancers of the bladder, cervix, esophagus, kidney, larynx (voice box), lung, mouth, throat, stomach, and uterus. The bottom line - you can get cancer from smoking.

Did you know that breathing in someone's second hand smoke can also be dangerous to your health? Second hand smoke contains over 50 toxic substances that have been linked to causing cancer, respiratory tract infections, and heart disease in "passive smokers" - people who breathe in the tobacco smoke of others.

What is Second Hand Smoke?
Second hand smoke is also called passive smoke or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). It contains both "mainstream smoke" (the smoke that cigarette smokers exhale) and "sidestream smoke" (the smoke given off from the end of the cigarette or burning tobacco product).

According to the American Cancer Society, sidestream smoke has a higher concentration of carcinogens (cancer-causing agents) than mainstream smoke. Sidestream smoke also contains smaller particles than mainstream smoke, which makes it easier for sidestream smoke to make its way into the cells in your body and negatively impact your health.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. National Toxicology Program, and the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classify second hand smoke as a "known human carcinogen." The CDC estimates that second hand smoke contains at least 250 toxic chemicals and more than 50 cancer-causing toxins - including arsenic, formaldehyde, ammonia, benzene, chromium, and vinyl chloride.

In the United States, the most common source of second hand smoke comes from cigarettes, followed by pipes, cigars, and other tobacco-containing products. Exposure to passive smoking is common in homes, cars, workplaces, and public places - such as restaurants, bars, casinos, and other recreational settings.

Second Hand Smoking Facts
It is estimated that between 70 and 90 percent of non-smokers in the United States, including adults and children, are regularly exposed to second hand smoke. According to the CDC, between 2007 and 2008, over 53 percent of young children (age 3 to 11) were exposed to second hand smoke.

When a smoker lights up a cigarette, he or she only inhales about 15 percent of that smoke. The remaining 85 percent pollutes the air for the rest of the world to breathe in. As a result, when you're around a smoker, you engage in passive smoking by proximity. Interestingly, when you spend two or more hours in the same room where someone is smoking, you inhale the equivalent of four cigarettes!

Passive smoking is the third leading cause of preventable disability and early death in the United States. (Active smoking and alcohol take the first two spots for leading cause of early death.) Sadly, for every eight smokers who die from smoking, one innocent second hand "smoker" will also die.

As a second hand smoker, the amount of smoke that you inhale depends on the tobacco product that the cigarette smoker is using. When the smoker is puffing on a large cigar, you are inhaling the same amount of second hand smoke that an entire pack of cigarettes emits.

Passive Smoking Health Effects
The Surgeon General of the United States warns against second hand smoke, citing that there is no risk-free level of exposure to second hand smoke. Small amounts of second hand smoke can harm your health.

Research over the past twenty years has shown that non-smokers can suffer and die from many of the same diseases of active smokers. Every year in the United States, about 3,400 non-smokers die from lung cancer (as a result of exposure to second hand smoke), and an estimated 46,000 non-smokers who live with smokers die from heart disease.

Passive smoking doubles your risk of dying from lung cancer. Non-smoking women who live with a cigarette smoker have a 91 percent increased risk of heart disease, and they have a 20 percent higher death rate for both heart disease and lung cancer. (Second hand smoke increases your heart rate, and constant exposure causes the walls of the arteries to thicken, damaging the lining of the arteries.)

According to the National Cancer Institute, some research suggests that second hand smoke exposure may increase your risk of breast cancer, nasal sinus cavity cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, and brain tumors. Second hand smoke may also be linked to increasing your risk of stroke.

Second hand smoke can significantly increase your risk for breathing problems, such as coughing, mucous, bronchitis, pneumonia, reduced lung function, and asthma (passive smoking is a risk factor for the development of asthma, and it can trigger attacks in people with asthma).

Second Hand Smoking in Pregnancy and Children
Second hand smoking is bad enough for the average adult, but children and pregnant women are especially vulnerable.

Babies and children who are exposed to second hand smoke are at increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome, ear infections, colds, asthma, pneumonia and bronchitis. Exposure to second hand smoke can slow down the growth of children's lungs, making these innocent children cough, wheeze, and feel breathless.

The CDC reports that 150,000 to 300,000 lung infections - including pneumonia and bronchitis - occur in children under 18 months old, as a result of exposure to second hand smoke. Of these cases, between 7,500 and 15,000 children are hospitalized every year. Second hand smoke is also to blame for over 750,000 middle ear infections in children every year.

When a woman is exposed to second hand smoke during pregnancy, the nicotine that she inhales passes to your unborn baby. As a result, she is more likely to miscarry, deliver a stillbirth (a baby with no heartbeat), go into premature labor (her baby is born before 37 weeks of pregnancy), or give birth to a low birth weight infant (a baby that weights less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces).

How to Protect Yourself from Second Hand Smoke
To protect your health and your children's health, you should avoid being around any smokers. If this is not possible, consider separating the smokers from the non-smokers. Ask smokers to smoke outside only. You should also avoid getting in a car with a smoker.

Third Hand Smoke is also a Danger to Babies and Children
Have you heard of third hand smoke? This is a new type of indirect exposure to smoke. New research shows that third hand smoke can put your health at risk.

Third hand smoke refers to the toxic gases and particles that are left behind after the smoker has put out his cigarette or cigar. These toxins - including hydrogen cyanide, butane (used in lighter fluid), arsenic, lead, arsenic, and carbon dioxide - can cling to the smokers' clothes, hair, couches, and carpets, even after the cigarette or cigar has been put out.

Third hand smoke is why you can often tell that a person has been smoking. There is a distinct smell that lingers on his or her clothes, in his or her home, and in his or her car.

Because third hand smoke is invisible, babies and toddlers are especially vulnerable to these carcinogens. Babies and toddlers can accidently inhale the dust from third hand smoke, and due to their crawling and exploratory nature, they will most likely have skin contact with these invisible toxins. Exposure to third hand smoke can cause long-term health problems in your children, including asthma, learning disorders, breathing problems, and even cancer.

Unfortunately, using a fan or opening a window to help with the ventilation of the room will not help. The nicotine and toxic chemicals from third hand smoke isn't in the air. They're absorbed in surfaces that your baby is crawling around and touching.

The only way to protect your baby is to create a 100 percent smoke free environment and home for your child.

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