What is second-hand smoke and how dangerous is it?
Passive, or second-hand smoking, is the result of ETS, or environmental tobacco smoke, created by smokers when they light a cigar, cigarette, or pipe and when they exhale tobacco smoke into the air. As a result, non-smoking people involuntarily inhale all harmful substances contained in tobacco smoke, coming from both side stream smoke and mainstream smoke. Some specialists even insist that second-hand smoke contains more dangerous chemicals, including carcinogens, because it is formed at decreased temperatures. Recently, the US Environmental Protection Agency has included ETS into the list of “Group A” carcinogens, meaning that second-hand smoke is proven to cause different forms of cancer in people. It is estimated that the presence of second-hand tobacco smoke in the atmosphere is a leading cause of lung cancer in people who do not smoke. If a non-smoker is continuously exposed to ETS, for example from a smoking family member or co-worker, his or her risk of developing lung cancer i
