The World Health Organization, known as WHO, reports that five million people die each year from tobacco use. More than 4,000 chemicals have been identified in secondhand smoke, according to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), 50 of which are known cancer-causing agents. When a tobacco product is burned indoors, everyone is exposed to its harmful effects. There is no safe level of tobacco smoke exposure.
About Secondhand Smoke
The NCI reports that secondhand smoke is also known as passive or environmental smoke. It is made up of smoke exhaled by a smoker and mainstream smoke from a tobacco product including cigars and pipes. Secondhand smoke contains thousands of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals. It is proven to cause respiratory infections, asthma, cancers and heart disease, according to KidsHealth. In fact, according to the WHO, it is responsible for an estimated half a million premature deaths each year.
Health Effects
Secondhand smoke affects the health of people in every age range. It causes heart and breathing infections in adults, it can cause sudden death in babies and low birth weight in infants, reports the WHO. According to the NCI, the risk of heart disease for Americans exposed to passive tobacco smoke is increased by about 25 to 30 percent. Each year, 46,000 deaths may be attributed to secondhand smoke.
Cancers
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other governmental agencies have classified secondhand tobacco smoke as a known cancer-causing agent. Adults can develop lung cancer by inhaling passive tobacco smoke. An estimated 3,000 non-smoking Americans die each year from lung cancer linked to secondhand smoke. Environmental smoke is also believed to increase the risk of breast cancer, leukemia, lymphoma and brain cancer.
Children
According to the WHO, 31 percent of worldwide deaths linked to environmental tobacco smoke occur in children, and 40 percent of all children are exposed to secondhand smoke in their home. In the United States, passive smoke increases the number of asthma attacks and symptoms in up to one million children with asthma, according to the EPA. Up to 15,000 kids each year are hospitalized from respiratory infections linked to secondhand smoke. Today, some states are making it illegal to smoke in a car with children.
Safe Levels
The National Cancer Institute explains that there is no safe level of secondhand smoke. Studies have shown that even low levels of smoke, cleaning the air and ventilating buildings can cause adverse side effects to those who breathe environmental tobacco smoke. The Surgeon General's Office has reported that indoor ventilation technology cannot completely control the health risks caused by passive smoke. While conventional cleaning systems can remove large particles from the air, smaller particles and gases from smoke elude these systems. In fact, ventilation, air conditioning and heating systems can even distribute smoke throughout a building.
