Secondhand smoke does more than temporarily irritate your nose and eyes. This type of smoke contains harmful chemicals that have a number of serious, long-term effects on the health of non-smokers. You don't have to live with a smoker to be at risk, either. Working with smokers or spending time where people smoke can also put you in contact with harmful levels of secondhand smoke.
Features
Secondhand smoke is a combination of the smoke produced by the burning material in the cigarette, cigar or pipe and what the smoker exhales. This smoke carries at least 250 toxic chemicals, note experts from Cancer.gov. Secondhand smoke contains as much tar and nicotine as smoke inhaled directly from the cigarette, and contains more carbon monoxide, ammonia and benzpyrene than directly inhaled smoke.
Effects on the Lungs
Secondhand smoking has similar negative effects on the lungs as smoking, including causing mucus production, coughing and reduced lung function. Non-smokers married to smokers have 20 percent higher death rates from lung cancer than those not married to smokers, note experts from the University of Maryland. Secondhand smoke causes approximately 3,400 lung cancer deaths in non-smokers every year in the United States, Cancer.org experts state.
Effects on the Cardiovascular System
Inhaling secondhand smoke also negatively affects the heart and circulatory system, increasing heart rate and damaging arteries. It may increase risk of heart disease by up to 30 percent, estimates Cancer.gov, and experts believe it's responsible for 46,000 heart disease deaths yearly in the United States. Women who've never smoked, but live with a smoker, have a 91 percent increased risk of heart disease, according to University of Maryland experts.
Children and Secondhand Smoke
The chemicals in secondhand smoke affect children even before birth. Pregnant women exposed to secondhand smoke are at greater risk for miscarriage and stillbirth. Infants born to these mothers are more likely to be low weight and have reduced lung function, warn University of Maryland experts. Every year in the United States, secondhand smoke causes as many as 300,000 lung infections like pneumonia in babies younger than 18 months. This type of smoke also puts children at greater risk for ear infections and worsens asthma, as well as slowing children's lung development.
Prevention
Even small amounts of secondhand smoke can harm your health, and ventilation and other air cleaning methods aren't enough to get rid of all smoke. The only way to avoid secondhand smoke's negative effects is to stay away from enclosed areas where people are smoking. If you must spend time with smokers, ask them to take smoke breaks outside and not to smoke in the car while you're with them.
