What is secondhand smoke?

Health Effects

The effects of secondhand smoke on persons who share an environment with smokers
are similar to the effects on smokers themselves. The US Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) published a report in 1991
demonstrating a strong correlation between secondhand smoke exposure and lung
cancer; the report bolstered the movement toward indoor smoking
bans in public spaces. In 2006, US Surgeon General Richard
Carmona issued a statement on secondhand smoke that concluded that both children
and adults who have never smoked can get sick and die as a result of exposure to
secondhand smoke.

Secondhand smoke is categorized as a type A carcinogen, meaning there is strong evidence of its
cancer-causing effects in human beings. Cancer is only one of the effects that
secondhand smoke can have on the body. Secondhand smoke also has been found to
increase the incidence of heart disease,
respiratory infections (such as bronchitis, pneumonitis, and
pneumonia), asthma, middle ear infections,
stroke, and sudden infant death syndrome, among
other disorders. Even brief exposure to secondhand smoke can damage the lining of
blood vessels and cause clumping of platelets, both of which can result in heart
disease. Secondhand smoke exposure during pregnancy is associated with an
increased risk of congenital anomalies and low birth
weight.

According to a 2014 report by the US surgeon general, approximately 2.5 million
nonsmokers died from health problems caused by secondhand smoke in the fifty years
between 1964 and 2014. However, the CDC reports that, based on measurements of
cotinine in nonsmokers, exposure to secondhand smoke has steadily declined since
the second half of the twentieth century; between 1988 and 1991, 87.9 percent of
nonsmokers had measurable levels of cotinine compared to 25.3 percent of
nonsmokers in 2011 and 2012. Cotinine is produced by the body as it breaks down
the nicotine contained in tobacco smoke. This decline in the exposure of
nonsmokers to secondhand smoke is attributed to declines in overall smoking rates
and the proliferation of indoor smoking bans.

Toxins

Smoke (whether primary or secondhand) consists of several thousand different
chemicals, hundreds of which are toxic and more than fifty of which are known to
be carcinogenic. Toxins that are found in secondhand smoke include
formaldehyde, benzene, vinyl
chloride, carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide,
butane, ammonia, arsenic, and lead. These toxins can directly and indirectly
affect almost any organ in the body. According to most research, any exposure to
secondhand smoke can be harmful, even minimum exposure.

Studies indicate that the greatest amount of secondhand smoke exposure takes place
in enclosed spaces, such as in the home or in vehicles. The US Environmental
Protection Agency has urged people who smoke to refrain from doing so in their
homes or automobiles. In July 2006, Arkansas became the first state to make it
illegal to smoke in the car when a child under the age of six is present (in 2011,
Arkansas broadened the law to apply to children under the age of fourteen). As of
2015, seven states—Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Maine, Oregon, Utah, and
Vermont—and Puerto Rico had enacted laws making it illegal to smoke in cars when
children are present. In 2015, England and Wales enacted legislation banning
smoking in vehicles carrying children and teenagers under the age of eighteen.

Bibliography

Barnoya, Joaquin, and
Stanton A. Glantz. “Cardiovascular Effects of Secondhand Smoke: Nearly as
Large as Smoking.” Circulation 111 (2005): 2684–98.
Print.

Glantz, Stanton A.,
and William W. Parmley. “Even a Little Secondhand Smoke Is Dangerous.”
Journal of the American Medical Association 286 (2001):
462–63. Print.

Parker, Philip M., and
James N. Parker, eds. Second-Hand Smoke: A Medical Dictionary,
Bibliography, and Annotated Research Guide to Internet
References. San Diego: Icon Health, 2004. Print.

"Secondhand Smoke." American
Cancer Society. American Cancer Society, 5 Mar. 2015. Web. 27
Oct. 2015.

"Smokefree Cars." Americans for
Nonsmokers' Rights. American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation, 22
Oct. 2015. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.

Triggle, Nick. "Car Smoking Ban Comes into
Force." BBC News. BBC, 1 Oct. 2015. Web. 27 Oct.
2015.

US Dept. of Health and Human Services.
The Heal Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: A Report
of the Surgeon General. Rockville: Office of the Surgeon
General, 2014. PDF file.