Below are SOME facts concerning Secondhand Smoke that you may want to consider:
- There is broad consensus among members of the international medical and
scientific communities that secondhand smoke (also known as environmental
tobacco smoke, passive smoking or involuntary smoking) is dangerous and
deadly. Numerous studies, some of which are cited below, have established
secondhand smoke as a cause of death and disease.
- "Based on the current report, the judgment can now be made that
exposure to environmental tobacco smoke can cause disease, including lung
cancer, in non-smokers…Based on the evidence presented in this report, the
choice to smoke should not interfere with the nonsmoker’s choice for an
environment free of tobacco smoke." (Source: Report of the Surgeon
General, 1986.)
- Secondhand smoke is a Group A Carcinogen, a substance known to cause
cancer in humans and from which there is no safe level of exposure. It also
contains 4,000 substances, more than 40 of which are known or suspected to
cause cancer in humans. Among these substances are formaldehyde, cyanide,
arsenic, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, ammonia, benzene, tar and
radioactive polonium-210. It is estimated that 3,700 lung cancer deaths are
caused by secondhand smoke each year in the United States. (Sources: U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report Respiratory Health Effects of
Passive Smoking: Lung Cancer and Other Disorders, 1993; EPA Indoor Air
Facts: Environmental Tobacco Smoke, 1989; National Toxicology Program Ninth
Report on Carcinogens, 2001.)
- "Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS, another name for secondhand smoke)
is known to be a human carcinogen based on sufficient evidence of
carcinogenicity from studies in humans that indicate a causal relationship
between passive exposure to tobacco smoke and human lung cancer. Studies
also support an association of ETS with cancers of the nasal sinus."
(Source: National Toxicology Program Ninth Report on Carcinogens, 2001.)
- Secondhand smoke also causes heart disease. Researchers have found that
regular exposure to secondhand smoke increases a nonsmoking woman’s risk
of a heart attack and damages arteries in healthy nonsmokers. (Sources:
Journal of the American Medical Association, January 1998; Circulation, May
1997; New England Journal of Medicine, January 1996.)
- Children are especially vulnerable to secondhand smoke. Children exposed
to secondhand smoke clearly have an increased risk of ear infections,
pneumonia, bronchitis and tonsillitis. It is estimated that between 150,000
and 300,000 children aged 18 months and younger get bronchitis or pneumonia
from breathing secondhand smoke. It has also been found to cause low birth
weight, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and asthma. (Sources: The Mayo
Clinic, Rochester, MN; Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, July
1997.)
- "Passive smoking is a cause of lung cancer and childhood respiratory
disease. There is also evidence that passive smoking is a cause of ischaemic
heart disease and cot death [also known as crib death], middle ear disease
and asthmatic attacks in children. Restrictions on smoking in public places
and work places are necessary to protect nonsmokers. Parents need to be
informed about the effects of passive smoking on their children."
(Source: Report of the United Kingdom’s Scientific Committee on Smoking
and Health, 1998.)
- It is estimated that approximately 70,000 workplaces and 12,000 restaurants in Florida allow smoking somewhere on their premises, exposing more than 5.5 million people each week to secondhand smoke. (Source: American Cancer Society-Florida Division, 2001.)
OTHER FACTS
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Secondhand smoke is a cause of disease, including lung cancer, in healthy nonsmokers. Each year secondhand smoke kills an estimated 3,000 adult nonsmokers from lung cancer. (CDC)
· Secondhand smoke causes 30 times as many lung cancer deaths as all regulated air pollutants combined. (CDC)
· Secondhand smoke causes other respiratory problems in nonsmokers: coughing, phlegm, chest discomfort, and reduced lung function. (CDC.)
· For many people, secondhand smoke causes reddening, itching, and watering of the eyes. About eight out of 10 nonsmokers report they are annoyed by others' cigarette smoke.
· More than 4,000 chemical compounds have been identified in tobacco smoke. Of these, at least 43 are know to cause cancer in humans or animals.
· Nonsmokers exposed to cigarette smoke have in their body fluids significant amounts of nicotine, carbon monoxide, and other evidence of secondhand smoke.
· Three out of four nonsmokers have lived with smokers, and nearly half (45%) are worried that secondhand smoke might cause them serious health problems.
· Nonsmokers who live with smokers have a 10- to 30- percent greater risk of dying from heart disease than do other nonsmokers.
· More than 90% of Americans favor restricting or banning smoking in public places.
· Forty-six states and the District of Columbia in some manner restrict smoking in public places. These laws range from limited prohibitions, such as no smoking on school buses, to comprehensive clean indoor air laws that limit or ban smoking in virtually all public places.
· Secondhand smoke kills at least 53,000 people each year, making it the third leading cause of death in American, behind active smoking and alcohol abuse.
· The EPA has classified environmental tobacco smoke a Class-A "human carcinogen" - causing cancer in humans and unsafe at any level.
· Of 46 million American smokers 1.4 million to 2.8 million will quit if a national ban on smoking in public is passed. Fifty thousand others would decide not to start smoking each year the law is in effect. Overall cigarette consumption would decline by at least 10 percent - about 2.5 million packs per year.
· Secondhand smoke causes more disease than first imagined. About 47,000 Americans will die from heart disease caused by secondhand smoke this year and another 150,000 people will suffer non-fatal heart attacks. Previous studies estimated secondhand smoke caused at least 32,000 heart disease deaths in nonsmokers.
· Employees who breathe smoke from their co-workers' cigarettes miss twice as many days of work as employees in smoke-free offices. Irritants in ETS increased chest cold, eye irritation, and respiratory illness in nonsmokers.
· A national ban on smoking in public buildings would save Americans between $39 billion and $72 billion each year and eliminate 90 percent of public exposure to secondhand smoke outside the home.
· Restaurant workers are exposed to levels of secondhand smoke twice as high as other office workers and 1.5 times higher than person living with a smoker, according to a study of 400 restaurants and 600 homes. In bars, workers' secondhand smoke intake was at least four times higher than in offices and homes