Secondhand smoke is a mixture of the smoke given off by the burning end of a cigarette, pipe or cigar and the smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers. Secondhand smoke contains more than 250 chemicals known to be toxic or cancer causing, including formaldehyde, benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic, ammonia, and hydrogen cyanide.
Secondhand smoke is also called Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS); exposure to secondhand smoke is called involuntary smoking, or passive smoking.
It is not easy to avoid secondhand smoke because about one in four people smoke. The following list shows how secondhand smoke is harmful to yourself and your family.
The Dangers of Secondhand Smoke:
- Secondhand smoke causes about 3,000 deaths each year from lung cancer in non-smokers.
- Secondhand smoke causes irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat.
- Secondhand smoke can also irritate the lungs, leading to coughing, excessive phlegm and chest discomfort.
- Secondhand smoke has been estimated to cause 22,700-69,600 deaths per year from heart disease in adult nonsmokers.
Secondhand Smoke Especially Hurts Children!
- Children who breathe secondhand smoke are more likely to suffer from pneumonia, bronchitis, and other lung diseases.
- Children who breathe secondhand smoke have more ear infections.
- Children who breathe secondhand smoke are more likely to develop asthma.
- Children who have asthma and who breathe secondhand smoke have more asthma attacks.
There are an estimated 150,000 to 300,000 cases every year of infections, such as bronchitis and pneumonia in infants and children under 18 months of age who breathe secondhand smoke. These result in between 7,500 and 15,000 hospitalizations!
How Can You Protect Yourself and Your Family?
This is what you can do to protect yourself and your family from secondhand smoke:
- Don’t smoke in your home.
- Ask other people not to smoke in your home, especially baby-sitters or others who may care for your children.
- Choose children’s day care centers, schools, restaurants and other places you spend time in that are smoke-free.
- Ask smokers to go outside while they smoke.
- If someone must smoke inside, limit them to rooms where windows can be opened or fans can be used to send the smoke outside.
