Second hand smoke kills, best is to stay away from it

Passive smoking is nearly as or just as bad as active smoking itself.

What is second hand smoke?

It is also called passive smoke , environmental tobacco smoke or tobacco smoke pollution.

Passive smoke is made up of two different kinds of smoke--

1) Mainstream smoke is the smoke that is released from the burning end of a cigarette.

2) Sidestream smoke is the smoke that is exhaled by a smoker.

People mostly affected by second hand smoke:

People mostly affected by second hand smoke are pregnant women, older people and children.

Children and unborn babies are the most vulnerable to the effects of passive smoking--

This is because their breathing rate is quicker than the breathing rate of adults and by weight the children do take in more of the involuntary smoking than adults do take in.

Children are still growing and their bodies are still developing. When they are exposed to involuntary smoking the toxins cause slower and sometimes abnormal developments of their bodies.

Environmental tobacco smoke can have serious long term and short term effects and it is better to avoid it as far as possible.

Places where second hand smoking cause the most problems:

In the car--

No one should smoke in a car. If you smoke in a car in the presence of non smokers you must always remember that you expose them to passive smoke. Opening the windows and putting on ventilation wont help, they will still be intoxicated.

At home--

If a person wants a healthy family with children that are proper developed and happy, a smoke free house is a given.

At the workplace--

Passive smoking at the workplace is bad. In the long term it has a negative effect on non smokers.

Involuntary smoking in the workplace has been linked to the developing of heart problems and lung cancer. It can also have a negative effect on the moral of non smokers because people do not want to be exposed to the unpleasantness of second hand smoking.

Public areas--

Involuntary smoking in public places causes a real problem. The introducing of smoking bans resulted in having many non smokers visiting these places.

The problem is that business owners tend to be afraid to ban smoking, because they are afraid that going smoke free could be bad for business.

Irrespective of the place it is true that passive smoke is unpleasant. It works its way into woodwork, into carpets and into drapery.

I remember once my father in law had a lady looking after him. She was a heavy smoker. After six months her clean and newly white painted room became yellowish and it had a very unpleasant smell.

Different ways to deal with passive smoke:

1)Eliminate or control the source of passive smoke-- A fair amount of success have been achieved by smoking laws. The introducing of smoking laws in the United States resulted in the reduced intake of second hand smoke.

It has also been recorded that smokers tend to smoke less cigarettes per day when smoking laws are introduced in the work place as well as in public areas.

When a non smoker is exposed to passive smoke the body immediately begins to break down the nicotine that was in the smoke. This process results in the production of a nicotine byproduct called cotinine.

From 1988 to 2004 the cotinine levels in non smokers were reduced with 44% due to the fact that smoking bans were enforced in the USA.

2) Use ventilation and air cleaning to get rid of passive smoking.

We must always remember there is no such thing as a safe amount of passive smoke. Second hand smoke is dangerous and the air that we breathe should not contain toxic second hand smoke.

To conclude:

Remember involuntary smoking is and will always be dangerous.

If you are a non smoker or an ex-smoker try and stay away from passive smoke. Also try to protect children, older people and pregnant women from inhaling this environmental tobacco smoke.

If you are a smoker please do not force people to inhale your passive smoke. The best way of avoiding it is to just quit.

Go to Second hand smoke.

Go to stop smoking effects.

Go to quit smoking at once.