What is Secondhand Smoke?
August 14, 2011 in Tobacco & Alcohol Issues
Secondhand smoke is the smoke nonsmokers breath in from other people smoking nearby. There has been significant debate on the health effects of secondhand smoking for some time.
What are the health effects of secondhand smoke?
Secondhand smoke contains more than 250 toxic chemicals, 50 of which are known to cause cancer. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there is no risk free level of secondhand smoke. Consider the following statistics from the CDC:
- Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or work increase their heart disease risk by 25% to 30% and their lung cancer risk by 20% to 30%.
- Breathing secondhand smoke has immediate harmful effects on the cardiovascular system that can increase the risk of heart attack. People who already have heart disease are at especially high risk. Even brief exposures to secondhand smoke can be dangerous in people with heart conditions.
- Secondhand smoke exposure causes respiratory symptoms in children and slows their lung growth.
- Secondhand smoke can cause sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory infections, ear problems, and more frequent and severe asthma attacks in children.
How often are people exposed to secondhand smoke?
Nicotine is broken-down in the body to a chemical called “cotinine”. Tobacco is the only source of cotinine, so if a nonsmoker has cotinine in their body, it is because of secondhand smoke. From 1988 to 1991 almost 9 out of 10 nonsmokers had cotinine in their blood, saliva, or urine. By 2001, this was reduced to about 4 out of 10. However, more than 126 million Americans continue to be exposed to secondhand smoke. Most of this exposure occurs in the home or at work. About 1 in 4 children aged 3 to 11 years live with at least one smoker.
The California Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that secondhand smoke exposure causes approximately 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 22,700 to 69,600 heart disease deaths annually among adult nonsmokers in the United States.
Each year in the United States, secondhand smoke exposure is responsible for 150,000 to 300,000 new cases of bronchitis and pneumonia in children less than 18 months old. This results in 7,500 to 15,000 hospitalizations, annually
