Second Hand Smoking

Are you the passive smoker?

Second Hand Smoking occurs when smoke from one person's burning tobacco product (or the smoker's exhalation) is inhaled by others. Current scientific evidence shows that exposure to second hand tobacco smoke causes death, disease and disability.

• Second-hand smoke causes all the same ailments suffered by smokers.
• Exposure to second-hand smoke is linked with not only with lung cancer, but also with heart disease, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), nasal sinus cancer and a host of other diseases in both adults and children.* Second-hand smoke is also associated with middle-ear infections, asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia.
• Aggravates symptoms of hay fever and asthma.
• Exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke is estimated to cause about 300 lung cancer deaths about two percent of all lung deaths in Canada each year.

Long-term effects of second hand smoking

Research has generated scientific evidence that second hand smoke causes the same problems as direct smoking, including heart disease, cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, and lung ailments such as COPD, bronchitis and asthma. Specifically, meta-analyses have shown lifelong non-smokers with partners who smoke in the home have a 20-30% greater risk of lung cancer, and those exposed to cigarette smoke in the workplace have an increased risk of 16-19%

Short-term effects of second hand smoking

Tobacco smoke is an irritant, and allergy sufferers can experience stuffy or runny noses, watery or burning eyes, sneezing, coughing, wheezing, a feeling of suffocation, and other typical allergy symptoms within minutes of exposure. Some people with no known allergies and without asthma may cough in smoke-filled rooms, get headaches, feel nauseated, feel sleepy, and experience other ill effects, when they would not normally exhibit these symptoms without the presence of smoke.

Second hand smoking effects:

Infants are at a particular high risk from ETS because of potential impairment of their developing organs, especially the lungs. Studies show that smoking increase hospitalization for bronchitis and pneumonia and that this increase is proportional to the degree of exposure.

Children living with smokers have more restricted activity and bed-disability days than children living with nonsmokers. Furthermore, this association is proportional with the amount of cigarette exposure

Adults: There is evidence, although not conclusive, linking second hand smoking with the development of lung cancer. The risk of lung cancer being approximately 30% higher in nonsmoking spouses of smokers than for nonsmoking spouses of nonsmokers

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References:
Second-hand Smoke by The Lung Association.
Passive smoking: by Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Second Hand Smoking: The Molson Medical Informatics Student Projects Site.