[?] Subscribe To This Site

Tobacco Smoke

Tobacco smoke contains about 4,000 different chemicals, of which at least 200 are known to be poisonous to people. When someone is smoking tobacco, two kinds of smoke are released: mainstream smoke, which has been inhaled by the smoker and is then breathed out, and sidestream smoke, which is released by the burning cigarette, pipe, or cigar.

This sidestream smoke actually has higher concentrations of some harmful chemicals than the mainstream smoke, which has already been cleansed in part by the deposit of some of these poisons in the smoker’s respiratory tract before it is exhaled.

Studies of smokers have shown that the main health dangers from tobacco—lung cancer, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, and coronary heart disease—are related to how much the person smokes. The more someone smokes, the greater his or her risk of contracting one or more of these diseases.

Studies have also shown that there is no safe level of exposure to nicotine; someone who smokes occasionally is still at greater risk of disease than is a nonsmoker. Nocotine smoke is like nuclear radiation; although increased exposure leads to increased risk, any exposure at all carries a threat to your health and your life.

In the past, nonsmokers came repeatedly into contact with nicotine smoke wherever they went, whether they liked it or not. People once smoked without thinking in restaurants, public buildings, offices, factories, and other people’s homes.

Attitudes have changed, however, as evidence has accumulated that nonsmokers may be at risk of contracting serious illnesses from inhaling other people’s nicotine smoke.

Physicians have discovered that passive smoking—the unavoidable inhaling of nicotine smoke by nonsmokers—increases the risk of lung cancer and coronary heart disease in adults, and the risk of respiratory disorders and sudden infant death syndrome in children.

In addition, breathing second-hand smoke often contributes to respiratory problems in people who have asthma, hay fever, and other allergies. Studies have shown that a nonsmoker who lives in the same house as a smoker has almost twice the risk of developing lung cancer as a nonsmoker who lives in a smoke-free environment.

Health experts believe that passive smoking by nonsmokers is a factor in nearly 4,000 deaths each year from lung cancer in the US.

SBI!