The American Cancer Society, or ACS, says secondhand smoke has two sources: It comes directly from cigarettes, cigars or pipes and is exhaled by the smoker. Nonsmokers exposed to passive smoke absorb the same toxic chemicals as smokers. In fact, every year, 46,000 nonsmokers die from heart disease associated with secondhand smoke in their own homes. The problem is significant enough for the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, to classify secondhand smoke as a cancer-causing agent.
Definition
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids reports that more than 4,000 chemical compounds are in cigarette smoke, many of which are released as particles and gases into the air, including arsenic, a heavy metal toxin; benzene, a chemical used in gasoline; and polonium-210, a chemical element that emits radiation. The National Cancer Institute, or NCI, released a report in 2001 indicating that cigarette smoke contains 69 known and probable carcinogens.
Cancer
NCI reports that passive smoke causes lung cancer and results in about 3,000 lung cancer deaths each year in adults who do not smoke cigarettes. Environmental tobacco smoke also is believed to increase the risk of developing breast cancer, leukemia, lymphoma and brain cancers.
Heart Disease
In bystanders, secondhand smoke irritates the air passages and causes immediate harmful effects to the heart and blood vessels, according to a 2006 report by the Department of Health and Human Services. Death from heart disease in those affected by environmental tobacco is estimated at 46,000 each year.
Prevention/Solution
There is no safe level of secondhand smoke. In recent years, the government and individual states have been taking steps to reduce the public's exposure by banning smoking in the workplace, hospitals, airports, schools and many other locations.
Effects of Smoking Bans
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, reports that smoke-free laws that prohibit smoking in bars, restaurants and other public places are showing improvement in air quality and decreases in air pollution. In New York, after a law was passed requiring smoke-free workplaces, CDC studies showed an 84 percent reduction of secondhand smoke particles. After Ireland implemented a comprehensive smoke-free law in 2007, a study published by Patrick Goodman in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine found a huge dip in cancer-causing particles in the air.
