Health@Heart
Secondhand smoke and cancer
It has been scientifically proven that secondhand smoke is more dangerous to health than firsthand smoke
SECONDHAND smoke is the fume that one involuntarily inhales after someone who smokes exhales it (called mainstream smokes), or the fume that goes directly to the atmosphere from the burning tobacco (cigarette, pipe or cigar) called sidestream smoke. When non-smokers breathe in these smokes or fumes from other people’s cigarettes, cigars and pipes, this is involuntarily inhalation, called passive smoking. Tobacco smoke contains about 4000 chemicals, 200 of them known poisons.
What are these poisons in cigarette smokes?
Some of them are benzenes, formaldehyde and carbon monoxide, which are released into the air by smokers. Not only is the smoker inhaling these poisons but so is everyone around them. Smoking around people is similar to spraying known poison gas into the atmosphere, victimizing and posing even greater health hazards to non-smokers as well, as the smoker enjoys his habit.
Is secondhand smoke really more toxic?
Yes, it has been scientifically proven that secondhand smoke is more dangerous to health than firsthand smoke. The smoker, who inhales the (mainstream) smoke “filters” it so some degree before exhaling it, but the non-smoker around him/her inhales the “pure” and more dangerous sidestream smoke. Besides the tar and nicotine in secondhand smoke, there are several cancer-causing substances in secondhand smoke, and in much higher concentration than in mainstream smoke. So, the person who smokes in public, around people, is giving himself/herself a lower dose of poisons, and giving his victims (family members, friends and strangers) around him/her a higher and a more deadly dose of poison.
Does passive smoking cause cancer?
Yes, most definitely. Smokers developing lung and other cancers from smoking tobacco is a scientifically proven fact. In the United States, cancer victims of smoking and family members of smokers who died from cigarette-related illness, have sued cigarette manufacturing companies, and have won millions in awards. While they vehemently denied before, cigarette companies today have admitted in public that tobacco causes cancers and other lung illnesses. The courts have likewise ruled in a similar fashion in favor of victims of passive smoking (as in the airline stewardess’ case). In 1986, the Surgeon General of the United States reported that involuntary (passive) smoking can cause lung cancer in healthy non-smokers. In fact, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has now classified secondhand smoke a a known carcinogen (cancer-causing agent).
Does passive smoking hurt children and infants?
More so. Young children and infants are more vulnerable to tobacco smokes and fumes. Pregnant mothers who smoke, pass these dangerous substances to the fetus, causing higher incidents of smaller babies, some with diminished mental acuity, or even wit retardation, most with babies that are prone to frequent respirator infections and asthmatic attacks. Studies have shown that in their first two years of life, babies whose parent(s) smoke(s) at home have higher incidence of lung diseases such as bronchitis and pneumonia than babies of non-smokers. Smokes also aggravate asthma in children and may even precipitate attacks. Parents, especially pregnant mothers, and all of us for that matter, should not smoke, but if we have too, we should do it outside our home, and away from people.
What can be done about secondhand smoke?
Both the smokers and nonsmokers have their rights. Smokers have the right to smoke, even if smoking is bad for their health. People have the right to commit suicide. In the same token, nonsmokers have their rights. They have the right to protect themselves and their children from unwanted cancer-causing smokes. Someone’s enjoyment should not be tolerated to be somebody else’s endangerment. Steps that could be taken: 1. Let family, friends and co-workers know that you mind if they smoke around you; 2. Put no smoking signs in your home, car or office to make people aware; 3. Support legislation to restrict smoking in public places, like workplace or restaurant, movies, busses and other public places; 4. Propose non-smoking resolutions in your social/civic organization meetings; 5. Encourage management, unions and companies where you work to establish policies to protect nonsmokers on the job; and, help promote the concept of a smoke-free families in your community.
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