Second-hand smoking occurs among smokers and nonsmokers, including developing children and fetuses. Nonsmokers are second-hand smoking when they breathe what is called sidestream smoke from other people's burning cigarettes and when they breathe the mainstream smoke that smokers exhale. Smokers themselves can get a double dose of toxic chemicals by second-hand smoking other people's cigarette smoke.
Second-hand, or passive, smoking delivers many of the same chemicals that are present in the first-hand smoke that tobacco users inhale. Breathing second-hand smoke also raises the risk for contracting the same health problems that smokers experience in greater-than-normal incidences.
Risks to Unborn Babies
The Office of the U.S. Surgeon General notes that human bodies are more susceptible to health problems caused by toxins during the developmental stage of life. Harm to a fetus can occur as the chemicals in passive smoke travel through the mother's bloodstream and through the placenta to the developing child.
Male tobacco users who smoke before a pregnancy can cause birth defects and increase their babies' risks for miscarriage. Mothers who smoke or breathe second-hand smoke can cause fetal lung health problems or low birth weight, a major cause of infant mortality.
Risks to Children
As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report, women can pass along the nicotine from cigarette smoke to their babies via breast milk. Exposure to second-hand smoke puts babies at up to four times the normal risk for sudden infant death syndrome.
Older children have a higher chance of respiratory and ear infections, and of displaying symptoms such as coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath. Those with asthma conditions may get serious attacks more often after inhaling passive smoke.
The toxic particles in smoke can even be transferred from the hair and clothes of tobacco users to other people or household objects. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services notes that children who absorb these particles can be harmed, even when smoking occurs in another environment.
Risks to Adults
Second-hand smoke carries immediate and long-term consequences for nonsmoking adults. The presence of tobacco chemicals in the blood change the cholesterol balance, promoting atherosclerosis, or narrowed arteries. Inhaling just a small amount of cigarette smoke makes blood clots more likely to form as well, raising the possibility for heart attack, according to the CDC. Passive smoke exposure carries an even greater risk for adults with existing heart health problems.
Cancerous growths take longer to develop and produce symptoms than cardiovascular trouble. While second-hand carcinogens ingested and circulated in the bloodstream affect the entire body, so far, only the risk for lung cancer has been proven. The CDC reports that the risk for death from lung cancer rises by up to 30 percent due to second-hand contact with tobacco users' smoke.
References
- U.S. Surgeon General: Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke
- U.S. Surgeon General: Secondhand Smoke, What It Means to You
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Impact on Children
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Secondhand Smoke and Children
- CDC: Health Effects of Secondhand Smoke
