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Secondhand smoke comes from the tip of a cigarette and the smoke that is exhaled by the smoker. Wherever people smoke, there is secondhand smoke in the air although you might not notice it because it is almost invisible and odourless.
Even if you open a window, secondhand smoke will still be present in a room after two and a half hours! Even if you can't see or smell any smoke, it's probably still there. Smoking in a car is even worse because all of the smoke is concentrated into a small space.
Secondhand smoke contains 4,000 toxic chemicals
People that breath secondhand smoke are at risk of the same diseases as smokers, including cancer and heart disease, because secondhand smoke contains 4,000 toxic chemicals. It is estimated that secondhand smoke causes thousands of deaths each year.
Children are particularly affected by secondhand smoke because their bodies are still developing, and around half of all British children are growing up in homes where at least one parent is a smoker.
Children face a higher risk than adults of the negative effects of secondhand smoke. Not only is a child's body still developing physically, but their breathing rate is faster than that of adults. Adults breathe in and out approximately 14 to 18 times a minute, where newborns can breathe as many as 60 times a minute. Up until a child is about 5 years old, the respiratory rate is quite fast; usually between 20 and 60 breaths per minute.When the air is tainted with cigarette smoke, young, developing lungs receive a higher concentration of inhaled toxins than do older lungs. And think about it: young children have less control over their surroundings than the rest of us. Babies can't move to another room because the air is smoky. They depend on us to provide them with clean air to breathe.
Facts About Secondhand Smoke and Children
- Babies whose mothers smoked during pregnancy often weigh less when they are born than those who are born to non smoking mothers.
- Babies whose mothers smoked during pregnancy are at an increased risk for developmental issues such as learning disabilities and celebral palsy.
- SIDS(sudden infant Death Syndrome) Fetuses exposed to chemicals in cigarettes through the placenta are thought to be at an increased risk of SIDS. There are a variety of opinions about the role secondhand smoke plays after birth in SIDS deaths, but a California EPA study has estimated that between 1900 and 2700 children die annually of SIDS due to secondhand smoke exposure.
- Children who spend one hour in an extremely smoky room inhale enough toxic chemicals to equal smoking 10 cigarettes.
- Asthma - the EPA estimates that between 200,000 and 1,000,000 kids with asthma have their condition worsened by secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke may also be responsible for thousands of new cases of asthma every year.
- Children in smoking households experience more middle ear infections. Inhaled cigarette smoke irritates the Eustachian tube, and the subsequent swelling leads to infections, which are the most common cause of hearing loss in children.
Smokefree public places
Virtually all enclosed public places and workplaces in England are now smokefree. It is against the law to smoke in the indoor parts of public places like pubs, bars, nightclubs, cafe's and restaurants, lunch rooms, membership clubs and shopping centres.
Indoor smoking rooms are no longer allowed in the workplace. Public transport and work vehicles used by more than one person are also smokefree.
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