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HEALTH EFFECT OF SECONDHAND SMOKE

Secondhand smoking is the combination of smoke from the burning end of cigarette and the smoke breathed out by the smokers. Secondhand smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals. Hundreds are toxic and about 70 can cause cancer.

Since the 1964 surgeon General’s report 2.5 million adults who were nonsmokers died because they breathed secondhand smoke.

THERE IS NO RISK-FREE LEVEL OF EXPOSURE TO SECONDHAND SMOKE

Ø Secondhand smoke causes numerous health problems in infants and children, including more frequent and severe asthma attack, respiratory infections, ear infections, and sudden infants syndrome (SIDS)

Ø Some of the health conditions caused by secondhand smoke in adults include coronary heart disease, stroke, and lung cancer.

HEALTH CONSEQUENCES CAUSALLY LINKED TO EXPOSURE TO SECONDHAND SMOKE

CHILDREN

Ø Middle air disease

Ø Respiratory symptoms

Ø Impaired lung function

Ø Lower respiratory illness

Ø Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)

Ø Learning and behavior problems, including inattention and aggression

Ø Increase likelihood that the children themselves will become smokers

ADULTS

Ø Stroke

Ø Nasal irritation

Ø Lung cancer

Ø Coronary heart disease

Ø Reproductive effect in women: low birth weight

SECONDHAND SMOKE CAUSES CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE

Exposure to secondhand smoke has immediate adverse effect on the cardiovascular system and can cause coronary heart disease and stroke

Ø Secondhand smoke causes nearly 34,000 premature deaths from heart disease each year in the united states among non-smokers

Ø Non-smokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or at work increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25-30%

Ø Secondhand smoke increases the risk for stroke by 20-30%

Ø Secondhand smoke exposure causes more than 8,000 deaths from stroke annually

Breathing secondhand smoke can have immediate adverse effect on your blood vessels, increasing the risk of having a heart attack

Ø Breathing secondhand smoke interferes with the normal functioning of the heart, blood, and vascular systems in ways that increase the risk of having a heart attack

Ø Even brief exposure to secondhand smoke can damage the lining of blood vessels and cause your blood platelets to become stickier. These changes can cause a deadly heart attack

Note: people who already have heart attack are at especially high risk of suffering adverse effect from breathing secondhand smoke and should take special precautions to avoid even brief exposures

SECONDHAND SMOKE CAUSES LUNG CANCER

Ø Secondhand smoke causes lung cancer in adults who have never smoked

Ø Non-smokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke at home or at work increase their risk of developing lung cancer by 20-30%

Ø Non-smokers who are exposed to second-hand smoke are inhaling many of the same cancer-causing substances and poisons as smokers.

Ø Even brief second-hand smoke exposure can damage cells in ways that set the cancer process in motion.

Ø As with active smoking, the longer the duration and the higher the level of exposure to second hand smoke, the greater the risk of developing lung cancer.

SECONDHAND SMOKE CAUSES SIDS

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is the sudden, unexplained, unexpected death of an infant in the first year of life. SIDS is the leading cause of death in otherwise healthy infants. Second-hand smoke increases the risk for SIDS.

Ø Smoking by women during pregnancy increases the risk for SIDS.

Ø Infants who are exposed to second-hand smoke after birth are also at greater risk for SIDS.

Ø Chemicals in second-hand smoke appear to affect the brain in ways that interfere with its regulation of infants’ breathing.

Ø Infants who die from SIDS have higher concentrations of nicotine in their lungs and higher levels of cotinine (a biological marker for second-hand smoke exposure) than infants who die from other causes.

PARENTS CAN HELP PROTECT THEIR BABIES FROM SIDS BY TAKING THE FOLLOWING THREE ACTIONS

Ø Do not smoke when pregnant.

Ø Do not smoke in the home or around the baby.

Ø Put the baby down to sleep on its back.

SECONDHAND SMOKE HARMS CHILDREN

Second-hand smoke can cause serious health problems in children.

Ø Studies show that older children whose parents smoke get sick more often. Their lungs grow less than children who do not breathe second-hand smoke, and they get more bronchitis and pneumonia.

Ø Wheezing and coughing are more common in children who breathe second-hand smoke.

Ø Second-hand smoke can trigger an asthma attack in a child. Children with asthma who are around second-hand smoke have more severe and frequent asthma attacks. A severe asthma attack can put a child’s life in danger.

Ø Children whose parents smoke around them get more ear infections. They also have fluid in their ears more often and have more operations to put in ear tubes for drainage.

PARENTS CAN HELP PROTECT THEIR CHILDREN FROM SECONDHAND SMOKE BY TAKING THE FOLLOWING ACTIONS

Ø Do not allow anyone to smoke anywhere in or near your home.

Ø Do not allow anyone to smoke in your car, even with the window down.

Ø Make sure your children’s day care centers and schools are tobacco-free.

Ø If your state still allows smoking in public areas, look for restaurants and other places that do not allow smoking. “No-smoking sections” protect yourself and your family from second-hand smoke

EXPOSURES TIME TO SECONDHAND SMOKE AND EFFECTS

Ø 5 minutes – stiffens the aorta as a much as smoking cigarette

Ø 20-30 minutes – causes excess blood clotting, as well as increase the buildup of fat deposits in blood vessels, increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke

Ø 2 hours – increase the chance of irregular heart beat (arrhythmia) and trigger a fatal cardiac event or heart attack

In addition, the longer you are around secondhand smoke, the greater the level of harmful substances in your body. As a result, you might have an increased risk of developing smoking related disorders

DID YOU KNOW

Air purifiers and ventilation systems cannot remove all the poisons, toxins, gases, and particulars found in the secondhand smoke. This means you will still be exposed to the secondhand smoke.

Smoke from a cigarrete can stay in room for hours, even with an open window. Many of the toxic chemicals remain in the air and the carpets, curtains, furniture and clothes. Children and pets can be exposed to these deposits.

13 MILLION NIGERIANS ARE SMOKING CIGARETTE – W.H.O

In a report published by world health organization, 13 million Nigerians are smoking cigarrete and most of them are male. According to the report, tobacco industries are making profit of 90 billion per year in Nigeria. Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa are the leading consumers of tobacco in the world. Professor Musa Baba Shami of Malam Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital added that the increase of market in tobacco is growing higher in Africa due to the harsh laws that were impose on the companies operating in Europe and thus relocate to Africa where those laws doesn’t exit.

W.H.O reported that there was 7% reduction in smoking cigarrete in Europe and South America due to the strict and harsh laws imposed on the companies. Among other things include too much tax, warning, and indefinite restriction of advertisement on T.V stations. But on the other hand there was 12% increase in African and Asian countries. Why because they don’t take the necessary actions like their counterpart.

2.4 MILLION NIGERIANS SMOKE CIGARETTE DAILY – PUNCH NEWSPAPER

The Paediatric Association of Nigeria (PAN) put the daily number of Nigerian smokers at 2.4 million and warned that by 2030, it had been estimated that about eight million persons worldwide would die annually from tobacco use. Over 25 million Nigerian children and adolescent constitute the school population and are at risk of tobacco use, which has serious health and social implications. Tobacco is a risk factor for the six leading causes of death. In Nigeria, the yearly tobacco related death is 16,100.

If 13 million people were smoking cigarette, and 2.4 million people were smoking cigarette daily in Nigeria, then how many people will be affected by secondhand smoke? If one person smoke cigarette in public place, that smoke in the burning end of cigarette and the one he breathed out can affect 10 people or more than that.

WE NEED GOVERNMENT TO BAN SMOKING IN PUBLIC PLACES

In some serious and developed countries, smoking was either banned, restricted, or ban in public places. But in my country and other poor and underdeveloped countries there was no any law against tobacco use. If somebody chooses to smoke, that is his own problem, but as part of the government’s responsibility to protect us, our health and our property, it`s her duty to ban smoking in public places. The above mention argument and facts is enough to prove how disastrous and dangerous secondhand smoke is. I therefore wish the government will put this into consideration and thus ban smoking in public places, if it cannot ban the use of tobacco at all!

Aliyu Sanda Adamu

06-06-2019

Sandaaliyu06@gmail.com 07039615705

REFERRENCE

www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/secondhand_smoke/health_effects/index.htm

my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/10644-secondhand-smoke-dangers

negative health effect of second hand smoking