What are the facts about secondhand smoke?

Secondhand smoke, or passive smoke, can be just as dangerous as smoking. Secondhand smoke breathed in by someone who is around a smoker is responsible for nearly as many deaths as smoking in the United States each year. 2nd hand smoke has been declared by the Environmental Protection Agency to be a known cancer causing agent in humans. Even though secondhand smoke is not a drug that can be tested for, it can do just as much damage to the body as an illegal drug can. It has been proven that being exposed to secondhand smoke causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke. Statistics on secondhand smoke put the number of people killed as a result of secondhand smoke at approximately 3,400 from lung cancer deaths and 22,700-69,600 passive smoking related heart disease deaths each year. Secondhand smoke is dangerous for people with high cholesterol. Secondhand smoke is extremely bad for pregnant women and can cause birth defects in the baby.

What is being done about secondhand smoking

Because of the danger of secondhand smoke in public places many states and cities are passing laws that ban smoking in all public establishments including restaurants and bars. Before, restaurants were allowed to have special Smoking sections if the smoking section was properly ventilated in order to reduce the effects of secondhand smoke. But because we’ve learned so much about the damage caused by secondhand smoke officials say that’s not good enough. In order to protect workers in restaurants and bars all smoking indoors is being banned. To find out information on secondhand smoke or smoking bans in your area you can do an Internet search.

Secondhand smoke is never ok

The fact is that secondhand smoke is never ok. Whether it’s tobacco or cigarette smoke or marijuana smoke secondhand smoke is dangerous to everyone else who is around the person smoking. Because of this it is becoming very unpopular to smoke. Celebrities are being criticized to death by the press for smoking and subjecting everyone around them to passive smoke. Movies and plays are no longer letting actors smoke on film or on stage because they don’t want to glorify such an unhealthy habit. Pregnant women especially need to avoid being around people who are smoking. Illinois is considering a new law that would make it a crime punishable by a fine to smoke in a car if there are children in the car because of the dangers of secondhand smoke.