World Environment Day (WED) is celebrated worldwide on 5th of June every year. Run by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the celebration raises awareness on the importance of taking positive environmental measu
Whether you like it or not, you are exposed to passive smoke either in your workplace or public areas. Passive smoke causes at least 46,000 deaths in the United States a year. No doubt, non smokers involuntarily subject themselves to the ill effects of passive smoke. You will treat passive smoke as hazardous to you and your loved ones once you read and digest the facts and dangers of passive smoke, the groups of people at risk, and ways to avoid the health risk of cigarette smoke. This article will change your attitude towards passive smoke and move you to protect the future of your family.
Passive smoke is also known as second hand smoke or environmental tobacco smoke. A combination of sidestream and mainstream smoke make up passive smoke. When a smoker exhales the tobacco smoke, it is known as mainstream smoke. Sidestream smoke comes from the burning tip of the cigarette. Both of these smoke contain similar chemicals.
Both sidestream and mainstream smoke contain 4,000 harmful chemical of which 80 are known to be carcinogenic. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified second hand smoke as a Class A carcinogen. It is the most dangerous indoor pollutant. People spend most of their time at home. Imagine if your home is filled with smokers. It is like living next to the exhaust of a running car. As passive smokers, your health is affected adversely.
Exposure to second hand smoke can cause you to develop sicknesses. You can experience the immediate effects such as eye irritation, cough, headache, nausea, dizziness, and sore throat. On the long term, you may suffer from respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia, bronchitis, and asthma. Let's not forget heart and lung disease too. Your risk of developing various kinds of cancer increases as well. Children tend to get middle-ear infection. Passive smoke also put infants on greater risks of sudden infant death syndrome. Whereas, pregnant mothers are at increase risk of having low weight babies at birth. The