Facts
Second-hand smoke exposure is causing 1.2 million deaths annually. Nearly half of all children breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke and 65 000 children die each year due to illnesses related to second-hand smoke. Smoking while pregnant can lead to several life-long health conditions for babies.
Second-Hand Smoke & Third-Hand Smoke
Second-Hand Smoke
The smoke that a person inhales when they encounter someone smoking. It is sometimes called passive smoking.
Second-hand smoke has the same harmful chemicals that smokers inhale. There’s no safe level of exposure for second-hand smoke.
It is known to cause cancer. Second-hand smoke has more than 7,000 chemicals, including at least 70 that can cause cancer.
See a comprehensive explanation of second-hand smoke at cancer.org
Third-Hand Smoke
The smoke that remains on clothing and other objects after smoking.
As doctors we often see patients who have illnesses for which smoking cigarettes puts them at risk, and the smell of third-hand smoke can be very strong both on their clothing and breath.
It can also remain on furniture, car seats, and most other objects for up to 6 months or even longer.
Third-hand smoke also has negative effects. >> Read more here
Did you know?
We know smoking is harmful for health, but not many of us are fully aware how much damage second-hand smoke can do to one’s health.
Causes Cardiovascular Disease
Exposure to secondhand smoke has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and can cause coronary heart disease and stroke.
- Secondhand smoke causes nearly 34,000 premature deaths from heart disease each year in the United States among nonsmokers.
- Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or at work increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25–30%.
- Secondhand smoke increases the risk for stroke by 20−30%.
- Secondhand smoke exposure causes more than 8,000 deaths from stroke annually.
Breathing secondhand smoke can have immediate adverse effects on your blood and blood vessels, increasing the risk of having a heart attack.
- Breathing secondhand smoke interferes with the normal functioning of the heart, blood, and vascular systems in ways that increase the risk of having a heart attack.
- Even brief exposure to secondhand smoke can damage the lining of blood vessels and cause your blood platelets to become stickier. These changes can cause a deadly heart attack.
People who already have heart disease are at especially high risk of suffering adverse effects from breathing secondhand smoke and should take special precautions to avoid even brief exposures.
Causes SIDS
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is the sudden, unexplained, unexpected death of an infant in the first year of life. SIDS is the leading cause of death in otherwise healthy infants. Secondhand smoke increases the risk for SIDS.
- Smoking by women during pregnancy increases the risk for SIDS.
- Infants who are exposed to secondhand smoke after birth are also at greater risk for SIDS.
- Chemicals in secondhand smoke appear to affect the brain in ways that interfere with its regulation of infants’ breathing.
- Infants who die from SIDS have higher concentrations of nicotine in their lungs and higher levels of cotinine (a biological marker for secondhand smoke exposure) than infants who die from other causes.
Parents can help protect their babies from SIDS by taking the following three actions:
- Do not smoke during pregnancy.
- Do not smoke or allow smoking in your home or around your baby.
- Place your baby on his or her back for all sleep times—naps and at night.
Causes Lung Cancer
Secondhand smoke causes lung cancer in adults who have never smoked.
- Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or at work increase their risk of developing lung cancer by 20–30%.
- Secondhand smoke causes more than 7,300 lung cancer deaths among U.S. nonsmokers each year.
- Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke are inhaling many of the same cancer-causing substances and poisons as smokers.
- Even brief secondhand smoke exposure can damage cells in ways that set the cancer process in motion.
- As with active smoking, the longer the duration and the higher the level of exposure to secondhand smoke, the greater the risk of developing lung cancer.
Harms Children
Secondhand smoke can cause serious health problems in children.
- Studies show that older children whose parents smoke get sick more often. Their lungs grow less than children who do not breathe secondhand smoke, and they get more bronchitis and pneumonia.
- Wheezing and coughing are more common in children who breathe secondhand smoke.
- Secondhand smoke can trigger an asthma attack in a child. Children with asthma who are around secondhand smoke have more severe and frequent asthma attacks. A severe asthma attack can put a child’s life in danger.
- Children whose parents smoke around them get more ear infections. They also have fluid in their ears more often and have more operations to put in ear tubes for drainage.
Parents can help protect their children from secondhand smoke by taking the following actions:
- Do not allow anyone to smoke anywhere in or near your home.
- Do not allow anyone to smoke in your car, even with the window down.
- Make sure your children’s day care centers and schools are tobacco-free.
- If your state still allows smoking in public areas, look for restaurants and other places that do not allow smoking. “No-smoking sections” do not protect you and your family from secondhand smoke.
Information Source:
https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/secondhand_smoke/health_effects/index.htm
What you can do
Eveyone of us can do something to stop second-hand smoke around us and contribute to a second-hand smoke free world one day.
Chat about family health with a mate who smokes cigarettes regularly
Pin a second-hand smoke facts poster to your office's notice boards
Get a T-Shirt from our shop and start spreading the word wherever you go
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