Effects of Second Hand Smoke

The effects of second hand smoke on your health are all harmful. The dangers it brings are already proven. Exposure to it is 100% guaranteed to cause more harm even if you don't use cigarettes or tobacco but are around someone who does.

Second hand fume is also called environmental tobacco smoke or ETS. It is a mixture of two kinds of fumes from a burning tobacco:

• Sidestream which comes from the end tip of a pipe, cigar or cigarette
• Mainstream which is exhaled by someone after he puffs on the cigarette.

It is ironic that cancer prevention is next to impossible if you live or work in a smoke-filled environment even if you don't smoke.

Prevention of diseases linked to tobacco use is also more difficult because you are exposed to other dangerous second hand smoke effects.

One hour of being exposed to secondhand smoke is the equivalent of smoking 4 sticks of cigarettes yourself.

Whew! The smoke you're breathing from your own cigarette is already harmful but someone else's smoke is far more harmful.

The Dangers of Exposure

The negative effects of second hand smoke are . . .

• it ages the arteries of your heart faster,
• it increases your risk for a lot of heart diseases,
• it increases your risk for various cancers,
• it weakens your immune system,
• it encourages asthma to start and if you already have it, worsens your attacks,
• it causes aneurysm,
• it robs your body of essential oxygen, and
• it promotes cancerous cells.

Cancers Caused by Second Hand Smoke

1. Lung

Exposure to secondhand smoking increases your risk for lung cancer by as much as 25%. It is the number 1 cause of death due to the disease among non-smokers.

My friend's mom died of lung cancer and she wasn't a smoker. However, her husband did for a long time. He quit when his wife got diagnosed.

Related Page: Lung Cancer Facts

2. Prostate

Second hand smoke contains more cadmium. Cadmium is a chemical that is found to cause tumor growth in a man's prostate. If you're in your 40s and you grew up with a family member who smoked, get an annual check up for your prostate.

Related Page: Prostate Cancer Info

3. Leukemia

Your risk for leukemia is 20 times more even if you are a non-smoker. Babies who were conceived when their parents are smokers or are exposed to secondhand smoke at home face a higher risk for the acute lymphocytic type of leukemia.

4. Liver

If you like alcohol and you are around people who smoke a lot every time you drink, you are at a higher risk,

You're a candidate for all these cancers even if you don't smoke. It may be unfair but it's the painful truth. What you must do is avoid the effects of second hand smoke.

Related Pages You Might Like:

Effects of Tobacco Smoking | Smoking and Cancer | Benefits of Not Smoking | Tobacco Use: Its Effects on You | Benefits of Giving Up Smoking

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