SECONDHAND OR ENVIRONMENTAL SMOKE

So you don’t smoke? You don’t chew? You don’t dip? Since you take good care of your health by not using tobacco products, you are “home free” as they say. Right?

Wrong.

Every day, men, women, youths, and babies are subjected to the same dangers smoking tobacco products inflicts on smokers’ bodies. These innocent victims are damaged by second hand smoke -- also called environmental smoking.

Secondhand smoke is a mixture of the smoke given off by the burning end of a cigarette, pipe or cigar and the smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers. Secondhand smoke is estimated to cause 3,000 lung cancer deaths annually and 37,000 heart disease deaths in non-smokers each year.

In another earlier study done during the late 80s and early 90s, it was found that non-smoking spouses of smokers were prone to higher rates of lung diseases than women married to non smokers. The rate increased in proportion to the amount of smoking done by their spouses. The tobacco industry strongly refuted Dr. Hirayama’s findings in full page newspaper ads although the industry’s own experts are said to have agreed with his findings.

What is second hand or environmental smoke?

Secondhand smoke, also known as environmental tobacco smoke, is a complex mixture of gases and particles that includes smoke from the burning cigarette, cigar, or pipe tip (sidestream smoke) and exhaled mainstream smoke.

Thousands of chemicals are found in the mixture including hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, and dozens of compounds that are known carcinogens, tumor promoters, or tumor initiators. Many of these chemicals have been identified as hazardous and are regulated by various federal or state agencies.
When California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his plan to open a smoking rotunda in the California Capitol, it brought protestors out in droves. Their arguments against such a powerful example of smoking approval included the fact that smoking harms not only the smokers but anyone else in their vicinity.

When you walk through a passel of smokers filling the air with their smoke, your health is being endangered. If you eat in a restaurant that is playing head games with the laws that decree separate spaces for smokers and non smokers – you know the ones I mean; their separate spaces consist of two tables away from smokers – your health is being endangered. If you work where smoking areas are near entrances you need to use repeatedly, your health is being endangered.

How is it being endangered?

Numbers for the curious and the magic numbers can make happen -- so okay, here are some solid stats for free.

 Secondhand smoke exposure causes heart disease and lung cancer in nonsmoking adults.

 Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or work increase their heart disease risk by 25–30 percent and their lung cancer risk by 20–30 percent.

 Breathing secondhand smoke has immediate harmful effects on the cardiovascular system that can increase the risk of heart attack. People who already have heart disease are at especially high risk.

 There is no risk-free level of secondhand smoke exposure. Even brief exposure can be dangerous.

Now, here’s the big message. If you or others in your household are smoking around children or babies, you are endangering their health.

Sorry, I don’t mean to lay a guilt trip on smokers but it’s the truth. If you date or are married to a smoker who smokes in your presence or children’s presence, your and their health are being seriously endangered. Let’s put it this way, would you live in a garage that has three autos in it gurgling out carbon monoxide?

As an ex-smoker who went through smoking every day, then quitting every day until it finally took, I know that nicotine addiction smoking is tough to kick. However, if your spouse or significant other smokes, for their sake, yours, and any little ones, help that loved one quit killing themselves. How? Sometimes telling them how much you love them and how much you fear losing them can help start them thinking of quitting.

One nauseating little trick I used to help me stop was to soak two cigarettes in water for a day. Then I sat and stared at the results for a few minutes. I imagined that awful yellow gunk going into my lungs and it repulsed me. It can work with some and not with others.