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Secondhand Smoking

Tobacco contains over 19 known cancer-causing chemicals (most are collectively known as "tar") and more than 4,000 other chemicals. These include acetone, ammonia, carbon monoxide, cyanide, methane, propane, and butane.

Over 38 million people in the United States have successfully quit smoking. Yet there are still around 50 million Americans who smoke. The majority say they would like to quit.

Nicotine acts as both a stimulant and depressant on your body. It increases your bowel activity, saliva, and bronchial secretions. It stimulates the nervous system and may cause tremors in the inexperienced user, or even convulsions with high doses.

After stimulation, there's a phase that depresses the muscles in your airways. As a euphoric agent, nicotine causes relaxation from stressful situations.

On average, tobacco increases your heart rate 10 to 20 beats per minute, and it increases your blood pressure reading by 5 to 10 mmHG (because it constricts the blood vessels).

Nicotine may also cause sweating, nausea, and diarrhea. Nicotine elevates the blood level of glucose (blood sugar) and increases insulin production. Nicotine also tends to enhance platelet aggregation, which may lead to blood clots.

Nicotine temporarily stimulates memory and alertness. People who use tobacco frequently depend on it to help them accomplish certain tasks at specific levels of performance.
Nicotine also tends to be an appetite suppressant. (For this reason, fear of weight gain also influences the willingness of some people to stop smoking.)
Finally, tobacco is highly addictive. It is considered mood and behavior altering. Tobacco is believed to have an addictive potential comparable to alcohol, cocaine , and morphine.

A recent studies shown that even secondhand smoke is a great threat to all.It increases risk of heart disease, lung cancer and SIDS too.

No amount of secondhand smoke is safe.

And the only way to protect nonsmokers is through smoke-free environments. Separating smokers and nonsmokers within the same air space or relying on sophisticated ventilation systems just doesn't work.

That's the conclusion of a new U.S. Surgeon General's report issued Tuesday, which determined that nonsmokers who were exposed to secondhand smoke at home or work had a 25 percent to 30 percent increased risk of developing heart disease and a 20 percent to 30 percent increased risk for lung cancer.

"Science has proven that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Let me say that again: There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke," Dr. Richard H. Carmona, U.S. Surgeon General, said in prepared remarks. "Only smoke-free environments effectively protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke exposure in indoor spaces," he said.

Paul G. Billings, the American Lung Association's vice president of national policy and advocacy, added: "Essentially, the Surgeon General slammed the book on any scientific debate on secondhand smoke. The evidence is clear. Secondhand smoke is harmful and needs to be eliminated."

The sweeping report, The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke, was based on the latest research on the topic. The last comprehensive review of secondhand smoke by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services came out in 1986; that report concluded that secondhand smoke causes lung cancer in nonsmokers.

Some 126 million Americans are still exposed to secondhand smoke. The risks are well documented and include heart disease and lung cancer in nonsmoking adults as well as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), respiratory problems, ear infections and asthma attacks in infants and children. Slightly more than 20 percent of children are exposed to secondhand smoke at home.

"Breathing secondhand smoke for even a short time can damage cells and set the cancer process in motion," Carmona said. "Brief exposure can have immediate harmful effects on blood and blood vessels, potentially increasing the risk of a heart attack. Secondhand smoke exposure can quickly irritate the lungs, or trigger an asthma attack. For some people, these rapid effects can be life-threatening. People who already have heart disease or respiratory conditions are at especially high risk," he added.

According to the report, nearly half of all nonsmoking Americans are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke. In 2005, an estimated 3,000 adult nonsmokers died from lung cancer as a result of exposure to secondhand smoke, 46,000 from coronary heart disease and 430 newborns from SIDS.

Secondhand smoke contains more than 50 carcinogens and is a known human carcinogen, the report said.

The report also found that living with a smoker increases a nonsmoker's risk of lung cancer and heart disease by up to 30 percent. The evidence linking secondhand smoke and breast cancer, at this point, is only suggestive.

And while progress to control secondhand smoke has been made, it's not nearly enough, health officials said.

"The good news is that, unlike some public health hazards, secondhand smoke exposure is preventable," Carmona said. "A proven method exists for protecting nonsmokers from the health risks associated with secondhand smoke exposure: Avoiding places where secondhand smoke is present," he said.

According to the report, comprehensive smoking bans such as those in New York City and Boston have not hurt the hospitality industry. Also, restricting smoking in the workplace not only reduces secondhand smoke but also reduces active smoking.

Such statements are likely to fuel legislative efforts to ban smoking indoors.

"The report is going to provide an additional tool and some very robust conclusions to support smoke-free laws and ordinances across the country," Billings said. "If anything, the momentum and the pace of passing smoke-free air laws will increase as a result of the report," he said.

"Those are very powerful conclusions, because those are some of the arguments the foes of eliminating secondhand smoke try to use," Billings continued. "I think this report will rebut those kinds of claims once and for all," he added.

In the meantime, the Surgeon General has these tips on protecting yourself and your loved ones from the effects of secondhand smoke:

Make your home and car smoke-free.
Ask people not to smoke around you or your children.
Make sure that your children's day-care center or school is smoke-free.
Patronize restaurants and other businesses that are smoke-free.
Teach children to stay away from secondhand smoke.
Avoid secondhand smoke exposure especially if you or your children have respiratory conditions, if you have heart disease, or if you are pregnant.
Make a list of the reasons why you want to quit. Include both short- and long-term benefits.
Ask your health care provider for help. Find out whether prescription medications (such as Zyban) might be useful for you. Find out about nicotine patches (Nicorette), gum, and sprays.
Ask your family, friends, and coworkers for support.
Set a quit date.
Get rid of all of your cigarettes by that date. Throw them out if you have to!
Quit completely -- cold turkey.
Exercise -- It relieves the urge to smoke.
Learn self-hypnosis from a qualified practitioner. This helps some people.
Make a plan about what you will do, instead of smoking, when stressed or other times you have the urge for tobacco. Be as specific as possible.
Avoid smoke-filled settings and situations in which you are more likely to smoke