Second Hand Smoke

Passive Smoking is Dangerous

Second hand smoke is a toxic cocktail consisting of poisons and carcinogens. There are over 4000 chemical compounds in second hand smoke; 200 of which are known to be poisonous, and upwards of 60 have been identified as carcinogens.

When a cigarette is smoked , about half of the smoke is inhaled/exhaled(mainstream smoke) by the smoker and the other half floats around in the air(side stream smoke). Environmental tobacco smoke(ETS) or second hand smoke plays a part in more health problems than you might realize. The following facts point out why it is so important to have smoking bans in place. No one should be forced to breathe in air tainted with cigarette smoke.

Some chemical compounds found in smoke only become carcinogenic after they've come into contact with certain enzymes found in many of the tissues of the human body.

Children and second hand smoke:

· Low birth weight for gestational age
· Sudden Infant Death Syndrome(SIDS)- approximately 120 cases per year are attributed to babies breathing in the toxic air created from a cigarette smoked nearby.
· Acute lower respiratory tract infections - the EPA estimates that passive smoking is responsible for between 150,000 and 300,000 of these infections in children under 18 months annually
· Asthma - the EPA estimates that between 200,000 and 1,000,000 kids with asthma have their condition worsened by second hand smoke. Passive smoking may also be responsible for thousands of new cases of asthma every year
· Chronic respiratory symptoms
· Middle ear infections - exposure to ETS causes buildup of fluid in the middle ear, resulting in 700,000 to 1.6 million physician office visits yearly

Second hand smoke and the heart:

· Heart disease mortality - an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 deaths are caused from heart disease in people who are not current smokers, but who are exposed to ETS
· Acute and chronic coronary heart disease
· Passive smoking has been linked to the narrowing of the carotid arteries, which carry blood to the brain
· Exposure to second hand smoke hastens hardening of the arteries, a condition known as artherosclerosis.
Second hand smoke is serious business, and should be a concern for anyone who breathes it in. Non-smokers breathing second hand smoke share some of the health risks smokers face. But smokers do face the worst of it - the risks of smoking compounded by breathing the smoke in for a second time. Don't underestimate the dangers of ETS. While second hand smoke may not kill as many people as smoking does, it is still a killer.