Second Hand Smoke

What exactly is second hand smoke? Each time someone smokes, poisons are released into the air. That means that not only are the smokers inhaling the smoke, but you are too. Many studies have shown that this second hand smoke can have harmful effects on nonsmokers and even cause them to develop diseases such as lung cancer, respiratory diseases, and trigger asthma attacks. Who do you think breathes in the smoke and chemicals? You do! If you can smell the smoke, it's affecting you.

Second hand smoke not only damages the body, it may even cause life-threatening diseases such as lung cancer. Plus, nonsmokers who are exposed to environment tobacco smoke (ETS) have a 30% increased risk of dying from heart disease. Second-hand smoke has an especially bad effect on infants and children whose parents smoke. A number of studies show that in their first two years of life, babies of parents who smoke at home have a much higher rate of lung disease. And smoking by pregnant women, seems to predispose premature babies to respiratory distress syndrome. Even among children without asthma, a team of researchers found that acute respiratory illnesses happen twice as often to young children whose parents smoke around them as compared to those with nonsmoking parents.

Side stream smoke is a smoke that is somewhat diluted in the air, but it starts off with twice the amount of nicotine and tar, three times the amount of cancer causing agents, and five times the amount of carbon monoxide. The actual definition of side stream smoke is the smoke that comes off of the cigarette before the smoker has inhaled any of the poisonous gases.

Even if you personally don't smoke, you probably come into contact with cigarette smokers. However, you can try to avoid second-hand smoke by going to restaurants that have nonsmoking sections, sitting in nonsmoking sections of trains, buses, and airplanes, and requesting that friends and family refrain from smoking in your room or apartment. Even in a public place, many smokers will respond favorably to a polite request to refrain from smoking.

In conclusion, smoking is extremely hazardous to everyone, not just the smoker themselves. It is important to know what secondhand smoke is, and its consequences. So please take the advice given in this article and use it. You do not have to breathe in the damaging chemicals in smoke!

Written by
Sonia Fernandez, David Mullen Crystal Reyes
and Kimberly Scher

Silhouettes by Sonia Fernandez and Kimberly Scher

Illustration by Meryl Salerno