First we want you to know what the second hand (passive smoking) is:
Secondhand smoke (SHS) is also known as
environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). SHS is a mixture of 2 forms of smoke that come from burning tobacco:
- Sidestream smoke – smoke from the lighted end of a cigarette, pipe, or cigar
- Mainstream smoke – the smoke exhaled by a smoker
Even though we think of these as the same, they aren’t. Sidestream smoke has higher concentrations of cancer-causing agents (carcinogens) than mainstream smoke. And, it has smaller particles than mainstream smoke, which make their way into the lungs and the body’s cells more easily.
When non-smokers are exposed to SHS it is called involuntary smoking or passive smoking. Non-smokers who breathe in SHS take in nicotine and toxic chemicals by the same route smokers do. The more SHS you breathe, the higher the level of these harmful chemicals in your body.
Why Second hand smoke is problem
Secondhand smoke causes cancer
Secondhand smoke is classified as a “known human carcinogen” (cancer-causing agent) by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US National Toxicology Program, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a branch of the World Health Organization.
Tobacco smoke contains more than 7,000 chemical compounds. More than 250 of these chemicals are known to be harmful, and at least 69 are known to cause cancer.
SHS has been linked to lung cancer. There is also some evidence suggesting it may be linked with childhood leukemia and cancers of the larynx (voice box), pharynx (throat), brain, bladder, rectum, stomach, and breast.
IARC reported in 2009 that parents who smoked before and during pregnancy were more likely to have a child with hepatoblastoma. This rare cancer is thought to start while the child is still in the uterus. Compared with non-smoking parents, the risk was about twice as high if only one parent smoked, but nearly 5 times higher when both parents smoked.
Secondhand smoke and breast cancer
Whether SHS increases the risk of breast cancer is an issue that’s still being studied. Both mainstream and SHS have about 20 chemicals that, in high concentrations, cause breast cancer in rodents. And we know that in humans, chemicals from tobacco smoke reach breast tissue and are found in breast milk.
One reason the link between SHS and breast cancer risk in human studies is uncertain is because breast cancer risk has not been shown to be increased in active smokers. One possible explanation for this is that tobacco smoke might have different effects on breast cancer risk in smokers and in those who are exposed to SHS.
A report from the California Environmental Protection Agency in 2005 concluded that the evidence regarding SHS and breast cancer is “consistent with a causal association” in younger women. This means the SHS acts as if it could be a cause of breast cancer in these women. The 2006 US Surgeon General’s report,
The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke, sums it up by saying that there is “suggestive but not sufficient” evidence of a link.
Research is still being done, but women should be told that this possible link to breast cancer is yet another reason to avoid being around SHS.
Children Suffereing From Second Hand Smoking
Children face a greater risk than adults of the negative effects of secondhand smoke. When the air is tainted with cigarette smoke, young, developing lungs receive a higher concentration of inhaled toxins than do older lungs because a child's breathing rate is faster than that of adults. Adults breathe in and out approximately 14 to 18 times a minute, and newborns can breathe as many as 60 times a minute. Up until a child is about 5 years old, the respiratory rate is quite fast.
Young children have little control over their surroundings. Babies can't move to another room because the air is smoky. They depend on the adults in their lives to make sure their environment is safe.
Scientists have uncovered numerous risks associated with secondhand smoke for young children and the research continues. To date, there are plenty of sobering facts about how this toxic air damages the health of our kids.
Here is some facts about children passive smoking:
- Babies whose mothers smoke during pregnancy often weigh less at birth than those born to non-smoking mothers. Low birth weight is a leading cause of infant death.
- Babies whose mothers smoke during pregnancy are at increased risk for developmental issues, such as learning disabilities and cerebral palsy.
- Babies who are exposed to secondhand smoke after birth have twice the risk for SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) as babies who aren't exposed. Babies whose mothers smoked before and after birth carry three to four times the risk for SIDS.
- The EPA estimates that between 200,000 and 1,000,000 kids with asthma have their condition worsened by secondhand smoke. Passive smoking may also be responsible for thousands of new cases of asthma every year.
- Among children under 18 months of age in the United States, secondhand smoke is associated with 150,000 to 300,000 cases of lower respiratory tract infections, like bronchitis or pneumonia each year.
