Passive Smoke

Are you one of 440,000 (out of 2.4 million deaths/year in US) that will die from smoking this year? Lung cancer, emphysema, asthma attacks, cataracts, bronchitis, and death. Whether you pick up a cigarette and smoke it yourself or you get caught walking behind a smoker, you are inhaling smoke that kills the cilia in your lungs. Today I will encourage you to stay away from cigarette smoking so you don't harm your body as well as the non-smokers around you. There are three aspects of passive smoke that I will cover. First, I will talk about the harms passed onto non-smokers. Second, I will discuss what the federal, state, and local legislatures are doing for no-smoking laws. Third, I will talk about why public places and working environments should be smoke-free.

Many people know that smoking cigarettes causes lung cancer, emphysema, and can eventually lead you to death, but how many of you have thought about the effects of passive smoke?

I. The harms of smoking not only affect the persons themselves, but it also affects the non-smokers around them. Secondhand smoke is a toxic cocktail consisting of poisons and carcinogens.

A. Over 4000 chemical compounds in secondhand smoke. 200 of them are poisonous, over 60 have been identified as carcinogens.

B. When a cigarette is smoked, about half of the smoke is inhaled / exhaled (mainstream smoke) by the smoker and the other half floats around in the air (sidestream smoke).

1. Cancer: Lung cancer (3000 deaths every year (EPA)), Nasal sinus cavity cancer, cervical cancer, Breast cancer, Bladder cancer.

2. Heart disease – 35000 to 62000

3. Infants and children – low birth weight: 9700 to 18600, SIDS: 1900 to 2700

C. Passive smoke increases the severity of asthma depending on how much the person is exposed to.

1. EPA - 200,000 and 1,000,000 kids with asthma have their condition worsened by secondhand smoke every year.

2. Triggers 8,000 to 26,000 new cases of asthma in previously unaffected kids.

3. Asthma attacks - more frequently, more severe.

II. No-smoking laws are being put into action by the federal, state and local legislation.

A. As a consequence of the health risks associated with passive smoking, a general ban had been introduced.

1. These initial bans have grown in scope, with jurisdictions (like New York State, Washington State, Ohio, and Arkansas in the U.S.) now prohibiting smoking in public buildings as well as establishments such as restaurants and clubs. Many office buildings contain specially ventilated smoking areas; some are required