Ch. 20A. Leslie

Secondhand Smoke

The health effects of tobacco smoke affect smokers and nonsmokers alike. Nonsmokers who breathe air containing tobacco smoke are also at high risk for health problems.

Environmental smoke (ETS)-secondhand smoke is air that has been contaminated by tobacco smoke.

ETS is composed of mainstream smoke and sidestream smoke.

Secondhand Smoke

Mainstream smoke: exhaled from the lungs of a smoker

Sidestream smoke: The smoke from the burning end of a cigarette, pipe, or cigar.

Mainstream smoke contains lower concentration of carcinogens, nicotine, and tar. For this reason, sidestream smoke is more dangerous than mainstream smoke.

ETS contains more than 4,000 chemical compounds and more than 50 are cancer-causing carcinogens.

Secondhand smoke causes about 3,000 deaths from lung cancer every year.

ETS causes:Eye IrritationHeadachesEar infectionsCoughingWorsens asthmaIncreases the risk for coronary heart disease.

Health Risks to Nonsmokers

Smoking during pregnancy can seriously harm the developing fetus.

Nicotine passes through the placenta, constricting the blood vessels of the fetus. Carbon monoxide reduces the oxygen levels in the blood of the mother and the fetus.

Impaired fetal growth, spontaneous miscarriage prenatal death, low birth rate deformities, and stillbirths and SIDS- sudden infant death syndrome.

Health Risks to Unborn Infants

The U.S. Surgeon General estimates that living with a smoker increases a nonsmoker’s chances of developing lung cancer by 20-30%

Some research also suggests that ETS may increase the risk of breast cancer, nasal sinus cavity cancer, and nasopharyngeal cancer, in adults and the risk of leukemia, lymphomas, and brain tumors in children.

There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke.