How does second-hand smoke affect health?
Non-smokers who breathe second-hand smoke suffer many of the same diseases as regular smokers. Heart disease deaths as well as lung and nasal sinus cancers have been causally associated with second-hand smoke exposure. Second-hand smoke also causes a wide variety of adverse health effects in children including bronchitis and pneumonia, development and exacerbation of asthma, and middle ear infections (“glue ear”), which is the most common cause of deafness in children. Exposure of non-smoking women to second-hand smoke during pregnancy reduces fetal growth, and postnatal exposure of infants to second-hand smoke greatly increases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Tobacco smoke also causes immediate effects such as eye and nasal irritation, headache, sore throat, dizziness, nausea, cough, and respiratory problems.
