What is so bad about secondhand smoke?

What is so bad about secondhand smoke?

Exposure to secondhand smoke causes multiple health problems in infants and young children, including: Ear infections. Respiratory symptoms (coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath) Acute lower respiratory infections, such as bronchitis and pneumonia.

Why is secondhand smoke especially bad for children?

Secondhand smoke exposure causes acute lower respiratory infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia in infants and young children. Secondhand smoke exposure causes children who already have asthma to experience more frequent and severe attacks.

What happens if a baby inhales smoke?

Breathing in hot air, smoke, or chemical fumes can cause irritation or swelling in your child’s airways. Being in or near a fire can cause wheezing and breathing problems. Your child may not notice these problems until several hours later. When your child inhales smoke, harmful toxins may get into your child’s body.

How does smoking harm the environment?

Cigarette and e-cigarette waste can pollute soil, beaches and waterways. Studies have also shown that cigarette and e-cigarette waste is harmful to wildlife. Cigarette butts cause pollution by being carried, as runoff, to drains and from there to rivers, beaches and oceans.

What is secondhand smoke and why is it so dangerous?

Secondhand smoke is the combination of smoke from the burning end of a cigarette and the smoke breathed out by smokers. Secondhand smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals, of which hundreds are toxic and about 70 can cause cancer. 1,2,3,4

How bad is second hand smoke?

Exposure to secondhand smoke raises the risk — by as much as 30 percent — that others will get lung cancer and many other types of cancer, it can lead to emphysema, and it is bad for your heart. Smoke makes your blood stickier, raises your ” bad ” LDL cholesterol, and damages the lining of your blood vessels.

Is second hand smoke worse than smoking?

Despite reports to the contrary, secondhand smoke is not worse than active smoking. The toxicology of tobacco smoke is the same irrespective of the method of exposure. The factors of dose, concentration, duration, and host susceptibility all contribute to the adverse health effects observed in an individual.

Can you die from secondhand smoke?

Secondhand smoke is a serious health hazard causing more than 41,000 deaths per year. It can cause or make worse a wide range of damaging health effects in children and adults, including lung cancer, respiratory infections and asthma.