Get Angry Over Secondhand Smoke

Also known as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), secondhand smoke is a mixture of two forms of smoke from the burning end of a cigarette, pipe, or cigar: sidestream smoke and mainstream smoke.

Why is it harmful?

Sidestream smoke is the actual smoke that comes from the end of a burning tobacco product.

Mainstream smoke is the smoke that is exhaled by a smoker.

Both forms of smoke contain more than 4,000 substances. More than 60 of these are known or suspected to cause cancer in humans or animals. Nonsmokers absorb these toxic chemicals just as smokers do. The greater the exposure, the greater level of destructive chemicals in the body.

Nonsmokers die from secondhand smoke in the United States each year:

* 35,000 deaths from heart disease in people who live with smokers

* 3,400 lung cancer deaths

Serious Health Problems for Children

Children are still growing. They have higher breathing rates than adults do and little to no say over their indoor environments. Parents are responsible for 90 percent of their children's exposure. This makes them extremely vulnerable to secondhand smoke:

* can cause asthma in children with no previous symptoms

* increases in the number and severity of asthma attacks in 200,000 to 1 million asthmatic children

* increases the risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome

* 150,000 to 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections in children younger than six

* increased risk for middle ear infections

Cause of Breast Cancer?

Scientific research is focusing on whether secondhand smoke increases the risk of breast cancer. The smoke contains about 20 chemicals that, in high concentrates, cause breast cancer in rodents. These chemicals reach the breast tissue and the breast milk.

Regarding humans, this is a controversial study. Active smokers show no increase in the risk of breast cancer. An explanation for this is that secondhand smoke may have different effects on breast cancer risk with nonsmoker than the smokers themselves.

Overall View

It is a fact that secondhand smoke causes premature death and disease in children and adults who do not smoke. This is straightforward. We must eliminate smoking in indoor spaces to protect nonsmokers from exposure. There is scientific evidence indicating there is no risk-free level of exposure to these poisonous chemicals.

Separating smokers from nonsmokers in indoor spaces is not enough. To fully protect nonsmokers, eliminating smoking indoors is necessary.

Become involved in reducing exposure to secondhand smoke. Contact your American Cancer Society at 1-800-ACS-2345 (1-800-227-2345).