PASSIVE SMOKING

Active smokers are the ones doing the act of smoking while passive smokers are the ones who don’t smoke but actually breathing the smoke too. Passive smokers may be anyone nearby the person who smokes. They also referred as second-hand smoke.

What is in the smoke?

Scientific studies show that there can be around 4,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke. They can also stick to clothes, hair, skin, walls and furniture.

Some of these chemicals are:

• Tar – It has many chemicals in it that is believed to cause cancer
• Carbon Monoxide – Reduces the amount of oxygen in blood – so people can develop heart disease (the amount of Carbon Monoxide is not enough to cause any immediate effects in passive smokers (such as feeling tired), but over a long time the effects can worsen heart disease)
• Poisons – It may include Arsenic, Ammonia and Cyanide.

What can happen?

Passive smoking hurts eyes, noses, throats and lungs and makes people cough. In children, they are more likely to get illnesses like:

• Pneumonia (Infections in the Lungs)
• Bronchitis
• Coughing and Wheezing
• Ear Infections
• Asthma – smoke is a common trigger