Geek Habitat

Anytime a non-smoker smells cigarette smoke — even if it’s on a smoker’s breath, hair, clothing, or their home furnishings – it is considered second hand smoke.

THE FACTS:

• Secondhand smoke is classified as a known cause of cancer in humans by the EPA.
• Scientific evidence cited in the current Surgeon General’s report indicates that there is no risk-free level of exposure to second hand smoke. Short exposures to second hand smoke can cause blood platelets to become stickier, damage the lining of blood vessels, decrease coronary flow velocity reserves, and reduce heart rate variability, potentially increasing the risk of heart attack.
• Secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke.
• It takes two weeks for one smoked cigarette smell to leave a room. Secondhand smoke contains more than 250 chemicals known to be toxic or carcinogenic, including formaldehyde, benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic ammonia and hydrogen cyanide.
• Secondhand smoke is especially harmful to young children. Secondhand smoke is responsible for between 150,000 and 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections in infants and children under 18 months of age, resulting in between 7,500 and 15,000 hospitalizations each year, and causes 1,900 to 2,700 sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) deaths in the United States annually.
• Secondhand smoke can also aggravate symptoms in 400,000 to 1,000,000 children with asthma. New evidence suggest that secondhand smoke is a risk factor for induction of new cases of asthma among children and adolescents.
• Secondhand smoke exposure may cause buildup of fluid in the middle ear, resulting in 700,000 to 1.6 million physician office visits per year and. Middle ear infections are the most common cause of childhood operations and of childhood hearing loss.
• Babies whose mothers smoke while pregnant or who are exposed to secondhand smoke after birth have weaker lungs than other babies, which increases the risk of many other health problems.
• A study found that nonsmokers exposed to environmental smoke were 25 percent more likely to have coronary heart diseases compared to nonsmokers not exposed to smoke.
• Secondhand smoke causes approximately 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 22,700-69,600 heart disease deaths in adult nonsmokers in the United States each year.

For those who are ready to quit:
Call your local American Lung Association at 1-800-LUNG-USA (1-800-586-4872) to find out more about how to stop smoking for good. The Lung Association is offering a new way to stop smoking through its Freedom From Smoking® online smoking cessation clinic. The Freedom From Smoking® online smoking cessation clinic can be accessed day or night, seven day s a week, on any schedule a smoker chooses.Visit www.ffsonline.org and stop smoking today! This is the most important step you can take to protect yourself and your family from the dangers of secondhand smoke. — Secondhand Smoke and Your Family.