The Health Risks of Secondhand Smoke

Secondhand smoke is the smoke given off by a burning cigarette, cigar, or pipe mixed with the smoke exhaled by the person smoking. This smoke contains the same 200 poisonous and 40 cancer-causing chemicals contained in cigarettes. Because secondhand smoke is distributed throughout the air inhaled by everyone--smokers and nonsmokers alike--present in an enclosed space, exposure to it is called passive or involuntary smoking. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified secondhand smoke as a group A carcinogen (cancer-causing agent) and estimates that it causes 3,000 lung cancer deaths in nonsmokers every year.

Secondhand smoke is an especially dangerous health threat to children. A child's developing lungs are highly susceptible to irritants, producing a cough, wheezing, and excess mucus. Children exposed to secondhand smoke have an increased risk for pneumonia; bronchitis; accumulation of fluid in the ear; and irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat. Children who have asthma and are exposed to secondhand smoke experience more severe symptoms and have asthma attacks more often than those who live in a smoke-free home. Passive smoking is thought to cause the development of asthma in thousands of children each year.

If you smoke, don't smoke in your home, in your car with the windows closed, or around children. If the weather is too bad to smoke outside, smoke in a room with the windows open enough to provide cross-ventilation. If you are a nonsmoker, don't allow anyone to smoke in your house or car, especially around children. Find out about your employer's smoking policy so you can protect yourself from secondhand smoke at work. In a restaurant, ask to sit in the nonsmoking section, as far away from the smoking area as possible. If your community does not have a smoking control ordinance, become active and urge your local government officials to enact one.