Passive Smoking

Passive smoking is a major environmental health hazard. Environmental Tobacco Smokes (ETS) or Secondhand Smoke (SHS) damages the health around the smokers. A non-smoker is subjected to both ‘sidestream’ smokes from the burning tip of the cigarette and the mainstream smoke that has been inhaled and exhaled into the environment by the Smoker. Nearly four-fifths of the smoke that builds up in a room having a smoker is of the more harmful ‘sidestream’ type. Tobacco smoke contains over 4000 chemical compounds including at least 40 cancer causing carcinogenic agents. Tobacco smoke also contains a poisonous gas carbon monoxide, which inhibits the transportation of oxygen to the body’s vital organs through blood. The smoke emitted from the tip of a cigarette has about double the concentration of nicotine and tar as it does come out through filter. It also has about three times the amount of the carcinogen henzi(a)pyrene, five times the level of carbon monoxide and about 50 times the amount of ammonia causing immense health problems.

Any person exposed to passive smoking may develop symptoms of short- term headache, cough, wheezing, eye-irritation, sore throat, nausea or dizziness and long-term asthma, bronchial problems and lung infections. It is estimated that prolong exposure to second hand tobacco smoke, such as in home, increases the risk of lung cancer by approximately 20 to 25 per cent. The chances of suffering from ischaemic heart disease are greater for those exposed to passive smoking compared to those who are not. Studies have shown that the risk of suffering heart attack is double by regular exposure to passive smoking. . This is more dangerous for children whose immunity power is less than adults. A child’s olfactory system may be damaged by passive smoking. Their cognitive abilities and reasoning skills may also suffer due to passive smoking.