Facts About Secondhand Smoke

I. SECONDHAND SMOKE (SHS) IS HARMFUL

  • SHS is the 3rd leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. (U.S. Dept Health & Human Services. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General . 1986.)
  • SHS causes 3,000 deaths from lung cancer and up to 62,000 deaths from heart disease each year. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Respiratory Health Effects of Passive Smoking: Lung Cancer and Other Disorders. 1993.)
  • Infants and children exposed to SHS are more likely to develop pneumonia, bronchitis, asthma and middle ear infection. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Respiratory Health Effects of Passive Smoking: Lung Cancer and Other Disorders. 1993.)
  • SHS itself is a Group A carcinogen (a substance known to cause cancer in humans). There is no safe level of exposure for Group A toxins. (Environmental Health Information Service, "9th Report on Carcinogens," U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, National Toxicology Program, 2000.)
  • For every eight smokers that die from tobacco-caused diseases, one nonsmoker will also die due to exposure to secondhand smoke . (Glantz, S. & Parmley, W., AHA Circulation , 1991; 83:1-12)
  • A recent study by two Helena MT physicians indicated that a comprehensive clean indoor air ordinance resulted in a 60% reduction in heart attacks in their city, while adjacent areas without smokefree ordinances showed no change. (University of California-San Francisco News Services, April 1, 2003)

II. NONSMOKERS MUST BE PROTECTED FROM SECONDHAND SMOKE

  • Smoke from the burning end of the cigarette contains over 4,000 chemicals and 40 carcinogens including: formaldehyde, cyanide, arsenic, carbon monoxide, methane, & benzene. Not only the smoker, but anyone else nearby, inhales these chemicals . (Environmental Protection Agency, Indoor Air Facts, No. 5 , 1989)
  • Nonsmoking sections do not eliminate nonsmokers' exposure to secondhand smoke, the smoke knows no boundaries. (U.S. Dept Health & Human Services. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General . 1986.)
  • Children are particularly sensitive to the harmful effects of environmental tobacco smoke. Children who are exposed to ETS have higher rates of illness than children who are not exposed. ( The Health Consequences of Involuntary Smoking: A Report of the U.S. Surgeon General , 1986.)
  • Smoke-filled rooms can have up to 6 times the air pollution as a busy highway. (Centers for Disease Control, It's Time to Stop Being a Passive Victim , 1993)
  • Waiters and waitresses have almost twice the risk of lung cancer due to involuntary exposure to ETS. (Siegel M. Involuntary Smoking in the Restaurant Workplace . Journal of the American Medical Association 1993; 270(4):490-493.)
  • Even half an hour of secondhand smoke exposure causes heart damage similar to that of habitual smokers. Nonsmokers' heart arteries showed a reduced ability to dilate, diminishing the ability of the heart to get life-giving blood. (Otsuka, R., et al. "Acute Effects of Passive Smoking on the Coronary Circulation in Healthy Young Adults," Journal of the American Medical Association , 286: 436-441, 2001.)
  • In addition, the same half hour of secondhand smoke activates blood platelets, which can initiate the process of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) that leads to a heart attack or stroke. (Burghuber, O., et al. "Platelet sensitivity to prostacyclin in smokers and non-smokers," Chest , 90: 34-38, 1986.)

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