PASSIVE SMOKERS

If you aren’t familiar with the term passive smoking, let’s first go over a brief definition. Passive smoking is also referred to as second hand smoking. All this means is that you are exposed, in most cases involuntarily, to the smoking of others. 

Up until the early 1990’s, the effects of passive smoking were pretty much unknown. But many studies conducted since then have proven that exposure to second hand smoke, whether it’s in the workplace or the home, can also have some serious health consequences.

A study done by the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that on average, over 3000 people die on a yearly basis due to the effects of second hand smoke. Now granted, this is just an estimation but it has triggered legislation in virtually every state to reduce the amount of second hand smoke that we are now exposed to. 

Lets’ take a look at a few other startling statistics about passive smoking. Did you know that children are exposed to more second hand smoke than adults? And did you also know that the harmful effects of second hand smoke can last their entire lives?

Here are just a few health issues that are raised when children are exposed to passive smoking. They can suffer asthma, increased chances of bronchitis and pneumonia, and are more prone to ear infections and other respiratory diseases. As newborns, if they are exposed to smoking in their environment, they run a significantly higher risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome! Infants who succumb to SIDS have consistently shown higher levels of nicotine in their lungs. Have you gotten the idea by now that it’s not healthy to smoke around children?

If you want to smoke, that’s your decision. But you need to not expose your children and family members to this killing habit.

Just in case the above wasn’t enough to make you kick the habit, here are a few more tidbits on what passive smoking does to your children.

Although the toxins present in second hand smoke are not as great as the person who directly inhales, they still are present and they still do harm. And since a child’s airways are smaller than adults, children breathe faster. This in turn makes them breathe in even more secondhand smoke!

Can you now see why passive smoking has now become one of the issues at the forefront of today’s society? It’s no longer a concern for just the health of the smoker, but it has also become a health issue for those that are subjected to the long term effects of secondhand smoke.

Let’s face reality, if you do smoke, you affect everybody that is around you, especially if you are at home. And please, don’t start the argument about what is and isn’t your rights. Get over that. Start thinking about what passive smoking is doing to people, especially children. It would be easy to list page after page of medical data to support the claim, but it really shouldn’t be necessary, should it? Do yourself, your friends, your family and especially your children a big favor. Kick the habit once and for all and start living a life that really is smoke free.