Dr. Barry Asman

     Monroeville Medical Arts Building, Suite 202     

     2550 Mosside Boulevard

     Monroeville, Pennsylvania 15146

     Phone  412-372-9234

     Fax      412-372-8671

 

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The Smoke Around You
Involuntary Smoking Leads to Sickness, Death
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates 3,000 nonsmokers die each year from lung cancer as a result of breathing secondhand smoke. If you have ever breathed secondhand smoke, you became an involuntary smoker and could be at increased risk for getting sick or even dying because of it.
 
The risk of disease depends on the amount of tobacco smoke exposure. An involuntary smoker breathes less tobacco smoke than an active smoker does because air mixes with the smoke. Not only can secondhand smoke cause lung cancer, such involuntary smoking also can cause heart disease, aggravate asthmatic conditions, and impair blood circulation. Even if you’re not actually near a smoker, the smoky air in a building can be harmful.

The evidence proves the point

Both adults and children who live with smokers are at risk. One study found nonsmoking wives of husbands who smoke have a 20 percent increased risk of developing lung cancer compared with women whose husbands don’t smoke. Another study by researchers at the American Cancer Society (ACS) found nonsmokers married to heavy smokers (40+ cigarettes a day) were found to have twice the risk of developing lung cancer compared with those married to nonsmokers.

Children living with a smoker have a greater chance of developing certain illnesses such as colds, bronchitis, and pneumonia, especially during the first two years of life; chronic coughs, especially as children get older; ear infections; and reduced lung function. Children with asthma may have increasingly severe symptoms and episodes. The more smoke a child is exposed to, the greater the risk, especially if both parents smoke.

What can be done to combat the problem?

Here are some ways to reducing the risks associated with secondhand smoke:

  • If you smoke, stop.
  • If others in your household smoke, help them stop.
  • Ask to be seated in the nonsmoking areas of restaurants and public transportation.
  • Make certain your children’s schools and their child care situations are smoke-free.
  • Help negotiate for a smoke-free work environment, if you don’t already have one.
  • Ask visitors not to smoke in your home.
  • Let your legislators know where you stand on nonsmokers’ rights issues, and that you will support their efforts to pass laws designed to protect the nonsmoker.
Help is just a phone call away. If you need help quitting smoking, are interested in becoming active in the effort to reduce smoking in your community, or want additional information on involuntary smoking, call the ACS at 1-800-ACS-2345.

 

Secondhand or "passive" smoke (also known as environmental tobacco smoke or ETS)-smoke involuntarily inhaled by nonsmokers from other people's cirgarettes-also can be lethal to adults. Secondhand smoke comes from two places: smoke breathed out by the person who smokes, and smoke from the end of a burning cigarette. Secondhand smoke causes or exacerbates a wide range of adverse health effects, including cancer, respiratory infections, and asthma.

Since 1999, 70 percent of the U.S. workforce worked under a smoke-free policy. However the amount of workers protected under a smoke-free policy varies by state.

 

  • Secondhand smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals; 200 are poisons; 43 cause cancer. Secondhand smoke has been classified by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a known cause of cancer in humans (Group A carcinogen).

     

  • Secondhand smoke causes lung cancer and other health problems. The EPA estimates that secondhand smoke causes approximately 3,000 lung cancer deaths and 35,000 heart disease deaths in nonsmokers each year.

     

  • Secondhand smoke is especially harmful to young children. EPA estimates that secondhand smoke is responsible for between 150,000 and 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections in infants and children under 18 months of age annually, resulting in between 7,500 and 15,000 hospitalizations each year.

     

  • Secondhand smoke is harmful to children with asthma. The EPA estimates that for between 200,000 and one million asthmatic children, exposure to secondhand smoke worsens their condition.

     

  • Secondhand smoke can make healthy children less than 18 months of age sick; it can cause pneumonia, ear infections, bronchitis, coughing, wheezing and increased mucus production. According to the EPA, secondhand smoke can lead to the buildup of fluid in the middle ear, the most common cause of hospitalization of children for an operation.

     

  • Individuals can take several steps to reduce their exposure to secondhand smoke, including:
    1. If you smoke, quit!
    2. Keep smoke away from you and your family by asking people not to smoke in your home.
    3. Make sure your child's day care site and school are smoke-free.
    4. Use no-smoking signs, buttons and stickers at home, at work, and in your car.
    5. Eat in smoke-free environments.
    6. Seek a smoke-free worksite.
    7. Support clean air laws that protect you from secondhand smoke.

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