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What is secondhand smoke?
Secondhand smoke, also called environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), includes both the smoke that is exhaled by a smoker and the smoke that emits from the burning end of a lit cigarette.
Exposure to secondhand smoke occurs anytime a smoker smokes a cigarette, pipe or cigar inside an enclosed area or around another individual. Secondhand smoke is dangerous because it contains over 4,000 deadly chemicals that have been proven to cause cancer, among other diseases.
Why should you be concerned?
Virtually everyone faces some risk of harm from exposure to secondhand smoke. In a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study 99 percent of non-tobacco users were found with measurable levels of cotinine, a chemical the body metabolizes from nicotine, in their bodies.
Persons with chronic conditions are more likely than healthy people to suffer when exposed to secondhand smoke. It aggravates symptoms of asthma in adults and children.
Persons with allergies, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and chronic heart disease may be more susceptible to the negative effects of secondhand smoke and its constituents (e.g. carbon monoxide)
Most people spend 90 percent of their time in two types of environments, home and work. People who live with smokers and work where smoking is allowed are at greater risk of harm from secondhand smoke than people who aren't regularly exposed.
For any environment, the harm from secondhand smoke depends on time spent in the environment and the amount of smoke in that air space. The amount of smoke is affected by the size of the space, the number of people smoking in it and the ventilation rate.
Why should parents be concerned about smoking around their children?
Children who breathe secondhand smoke are more likely to suffer from lung infections including pneumonia and bronchitis. Secondhand smoke also leads to a greater number of asthma attacks that tend to be more severe in nature, especially in children.
Although people may not be actively smoking in the house, smoke lingers in enclosed areas for up to seven days after the person has smoked.
Children who breathe secondhand smoke also tend to have more ear infections.
Children exposed to secondhand smoke are also at an increased risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and pregnant women regularly exposed are more likely to give birth to low birth weight babies.
What should you, as a parent, do for the health of your children?
Choose not to smoke in your home or car, and don’t permit others to do either. Print your Smoke-Free Home Declaration today! |
