The Effects of Second Hand Smoke Essay -- Smoking Tobacco Health Lung

The Effects of Second Hand Smoke Did you know that 3,000 American non-smokers will die this year from lung cancer? Those deaths are entirely preventable. Their lung cancer is caused by second hand smoke. Second hand smoke is smoke they have breathed in from other people's cigarettes. It is also known as involuntary or passive smoking. There is nothing passive however about the effects of this smoke. It is lethal and it is dangerous. It may give as many as 300,000 children under the age of one and half bronchitis and pneumonia. It could even be responsible for more than 35,000 deaths from heart disease. Smoking causes lung cancer. This fact is indisputable. What is sometimes disputed is the extent to which the smoke from other people's cigarettes damages those around them. Some in the tobacco industry play down this effect. They say that passive smoking is at worst a minor irritant. They say the recorded illness, deaths and cancers of those who have to live and work with smokers is a coincidence. They even have the audacity to suggest that those illnesses may be caused by diet or other environmental factors. Let us look at the facts. There are two ways in which passive or second hand smoke can affect non- smokers. Mainstream smoke is that smoke that has already been inhaled and then exhaled by the smoker. Sidestream smoke is the smoke that comes off the burning end or tip of the cigarette. Both of these sources are responsible for passive smoke inhaled by non-smokers. Second hand smoke is chemically similar to that inhaled by smokers. After 30 minutes exposure to second-hand smoke the blood flow to the heart is reduced. On top of this a non-smoker who is regularly exposed to second hand smoke has a 20 to 30% increased risk of lung cancer. Tobacco smoke contains 4,000 chemicals in the form of particles and gases. 200 of those chemicals are very poisons. 43 of those chemicals are proven to cause cancer. This lethal combination is what causes tobacco smoke to be classified as a Group A carcinogen. Incredibly 85% of the smoke from a cigarette will not be inhaled by the smoker. Instead it will fill up the room. That means only 15% of the smoke from a cigarette is actually inhaled by the person smoking it. On top of this, many of the toxic poisons and gases in sidestream smoke are present in higher quantities than in mainstream smoke. The poisons an... ... a welcome move. It means that we can start to look forwards to a smoke free environment for ourselves and our children. Unfortunately the statistics tell us that there are still many millions of people who still insist on their 'right' to smoke. The children who are exposed to their smoke do not have such a choice. Protecting children and non-smokers from the effects of second hand smoke must be a priority for everyone. A smoker chooses to smoke but a non-smoker's risk is involuntary. Exposure to second hand smoke is a real and present threat to our health. As a result there are many non-smokers who are needlessly dying from heart disease and lung cancer. Second hand smoking causes asthma, reduces lung function and bronchitis, pneumonia and causes middle ear infections. Many of these illness are inflicted upon small children. Bans on smoking in workplaces exist. So do bans on smoking in restaurants. Unless they are rigidly enforced they won't make a difference. Smoking, unfortunately, cannot be banned in homes. Passive smoking should be shown for exactly what it is, a dangerous killer. Maybe then non-smokers, especially children, will not suffer from second hand smoke.