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|Secondhand Smoke and the Effect on Non Smokers |
|University of Phoenix |
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|Clint Atwater |
| August 16, 2009 |

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SECONDHAND SMOKE AND ITS EFFECTS ON NON-SMOKERS

Smoking is still a legal right for Americans if they so choose. Along with this right comes the production of secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke is very toxic, causes numerous deaths in non-smokers each year and increases the risk of certain childhood respiratory problems. Secondhand smoke can be hard to avoid because according to the American Lung Association 1 out of 5 people smoke. (2006, Center for Disease Control Health Survey) Also according to research, there is no safe exposure to secondhand smoke.

As basic as it seems, let us first get a clear definition as to what secondhand smoke really is. Secondhand smoke is “a mixture of the smoke given off by the burning end of a cigarette, pipe or cigar (sidestream smoke) and the smoke exhaled (mainstream smoke) from the lungs of smokers.”(2008, American Lung Association).Secondhand smoke contains many chemicals that are known to be toxic or cause cancer including arsenic and ammonia. Another thing to remember is that when a non smoker breathes in the smoke from a smoker it is called “passive smoking” and that with passive smoking the non smoker is exposed to as many harmful substances that the smoker is. Also, the more smoke that a non smoker is exposed to the greater the amount of the harmful chemicals in the non smoker’s body. Smokers and non smokers, who are constantly around secondhand smoke, are at a high risk for developing many different diseases.

Non smokers are at a high risk for developing the same health problems that smokers face on a daily basis. The first disease that may be a problem is lung disease and this can include everything from cancer to bronchitis. It is the diseases of the lung that children of smokers seem to be at greatest risk for. In 2007,the Surgeon General said that “on average children are exposed to more secondhand smoke than adults.” Infants and young children are at a greater risk for sudden infections like pneumonia or bronchitis according to the Office of the Surgeon General. Exposure to smoke can also increase the risk for SIDS(Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) and mothers who smoke while breast feeding expose their babies to the harmful effects of nicotine every time the baby eats. Non smokers are even at risk for lung cancer, which is the disease that most people think of when referring to a smoker. Some of the cancers that we do not think about being associated with smoking are cancer of the stomach, kidney, cervix, bladder and skin cancer. Another issue for non smokers to be concerned about is heart disease. According to Rosner and Stampfer “During the present century, about 1 billion people will die of smoking related conditions if current smoking trends persist; a substantial proportion due to cardiovascular disease.” The American Cancer Society says that each year approximately 46,000 deaths occur from heart disease in non smokers who live with a smoker. The Surgeon General reported in 2006 that “secondhand smoke immediately affects the heart and blood vessel in a harmful way. What has been found is that the harmful ingredients in the smoke cause the blood vessels to constrict, causing the potential for clots to form which in turn paves the way for a stroke or heart attack to occur should one of those tiny clots break loose. For people that are smokers the best thing that they can do to reduce any of the diseases mentioned is to quit smoking and for the non smoker the best thing to do is to avoid all situations where smoking occurs when possible.

The American Cancer Society says that the workplace is the most common place for exposure to secondhand smoke.(2009, Smoking Factsheet). The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a federal agency, recommends that “secondhand smoke be considered a possible carcinogen in the workplace.”(1991) The Surgeon General has said that “smoke free policies are the only way to do away with secondhand smoke exposure at work.” In the same report, the Surgeon General said that “separating the smokers from the non smokers in the building, cleaning the air, and ventilating the building cannot prevent exposure if people still smoke in the building. The next two common places where exposure occurs are in homes and cars. These two places are where the majority of time is spent by families. If homes are smoke free then people that come for a visit and our children and pets are healthier. Another benefit to a smoke free home is that clean up is much easier. Smoking will leave a yellow film on everything and makes everything smell bad. Cars are a small cramped environment and if one person smokes, even with the window down, the secondhand smoke builds quickly making it very difficult for the non smoker to breathe. Non smokers would be a smart generation of people if they insisted on no smoking in the car or home.

It seems that people are catching on to this non smoking idea as more and more business are becoming smoke free thanks to some innovative legislation that has been put into effect. More and more restaurants are becoming smoke free and the establishments where people are allowed to smoke have to meet certain requirements for that to happen. So far it appears that this legislation has not hurt any businesses financially. It seems that the business owners are happy to think of new ways to keep smokers and non smokers coming to their place of business. This is happening due to the clean air acts that are being passed all over the country. The latest act of this on the local level is when the hospitals decided to all have smoke free campuses. It seems that our legislation is working out so well that many countries are following suit. Of course the newest legislation to work in the favor of the non smoker is the higher taxes that are being put on cigarettes making it almost impossible to be able to afford the cigarettes.

For the longest times it seemed as though the main concern about smoking was for the health of the smoker, now it seems like the health of the non smoker is just as big of concern. To put things in perspective, secondhand smoke is as toxic and deadly as mainstream smoke and because of this non smokers are getting all the same diseases that smokers are getting and depending on the diseases may even get it more often. Our children are being put at risk every day that they are exposed to secondhand smoke and our children are the one thing we should try to protect from any kind of harm. Finally, smokers probably will always have the right to smoke and non smokers will always have the choice to go somewhere where there is no smoke.

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