Secondhand Smoke
Breathing in smoke from someone else’s tobacco presents a significant risk to a nonsmoker’s health. Exposure to so-called secondhand smoke (sometimes referred to as passive smoking) is a significant cause of heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, and respiratory problems such as bronchitis.
Two different types of smoke enter the air when a person smokes: exhaled smoke and the smoke that comes directly from the burning tobacco. This second, more dangerous type of smoke is what hovers in the air in smoke-filled rooms.
Secondhand smoke is especially harmful to infants and young children. Smoking by parents is known to worsen asthma in children and even to trigger asthma attacks. Children without asthma whose parents smoke have far more respiratory illnesses—coughs, colds, middle ear infections, pneumonia, and bronchitis—than children of nonsmokers.
