Quit Smoking To Stop The Secondhand Smoke That Endangers Others

Sometimes a smoker must consider others when making their decision to stop smoking. The cigarettes they smoke and the smoke that hangs in the air, following their smoking path, also affects those around them. It is often not the only reason a smoker will stop but in many cases it should be a consideration in their battle against smoking. The fact is that the smoker spreads secondhand smoke, also called passive smoke or environmental tobacco smoke. Whichever name is used it is unhealthy for those exposed to it and the smoker must consider this a side effect of their smoking.

There are actually two kinds of secondhand smoke. One is referred to as sidestream smoke. This is the smoke that comes directly from a burning cigarette, a cigar, a pipe, or a water pipe. So often a cigarette is left in an ashtray or hanging from someone’s hand with the smoke filling the space around it. The other type is called mainstream smoke. This is what is exhaled by the smoker. It does not matter to the non-smoker which one is in the air since both contain many toxic chemicals that are just as unhealthy for the person breathing in secondhand smoke as the smoker themselves.

The smoke from the average cigarette has around four thousand chemicals in it. Of those over fifty are believed to be cancer causing. Research has shown that in an average year secondhand smoke causes three and a half thousand deaths from lung cancer in non-smokers. It also causes the deaths of thirty five thousand people who live with smokers and who die from heart disease related to secondhand smoke. The number of respiratory conditions that non-smokers have that can be tied to the smoking of others in the home is almost immeasurable. Around a quarter of a million suffer from pneumonia and bronchitis that are less than eighteen months old because of a family member who smokes. Three to five percent of these children are hospitalized. Secondhand smoke can also be the cause for asthma or the reason for increased severity of attacks in asthma sufferers. There are also likely to be more ear infections amongst children who live in an environment with secondhand smoke.

There are three places that a most likely filled with secondhand smoke: the workplace, the home and public areas like restaurants, public transportation or schools. For children the home is the most dangerous place. Thirty five percent of all children live in homes where someone is a smoker. Up to seventy five percent of the children in American have traceable levels of cotinine, which is a byproduct of nicotine when it breaks down in the bloodstream.

When looking for good reasons to quit smoking this might be one of the best. If you do not value your own health enough to quit think of the damage you are doing to those you care about. Is it fair to them to have to breathe in the secondhand smoke from your smoking habit?

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