What are the dangers of environmental (secondhand) tobacco smoke?
Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) is also known as secondhand smoke. Passive smoking (inhaling secondhand smoke) happens when non-smokers breathe other people’s tobacco smoke. This includes mainstream smoke (smoke that is inhaled and then exhaled into the air by smokers) and sidestream smoke (smoke that comes directly from the burning tobacco in cigarettes). ETS contains the same harmful chemicals as the smoke that smokers inhale. There is strong evidence that ETS causes serious damage to human health. Each year about 3,400 non-smoking adults die of lung cancer and about 46,000 die of heart disease as a result of breathing secondhand smoke. It can also affect non-smokers by causing asthma and other respiratory problems, eye irritation, headaches, nausea, and dizziness. Children whose parents smoke are more likely to suffer from asthma, pneumonia, bronchitis, ear infections, coughing, wheezing, and increased mucus production. Babies of parents who smoke have a greater chance of dying of
