- Second hand smoke is the third leading preventable cause of death in the U.S.
- Second hand smoking, known as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), is a mixture of the smoke given off by the burning end of a cigarette, pipe or cigar and the smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers.
- It can cause cancer, respiratory infections, and asthma.
- Second hand smoking causes many children deaths.
- Second hand smoke causes about 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 22,700-69,600 heart disease deaths in adult nonsmokers in the U.S. each year.
- Second hand smoke can also aggravate symptoms in 400,000 to 1,000,000 children with asthma.
- About 50-75 percent of children in the United States have detectable levels of cotinine, the breakdown product of nicotine in the blood.
- In the 1980's cigarette company Phillip Morris concluded that Second hand Smoking is very toxic.
- Short exposures to secondhand smoke can cause blood platelets to become stickier, damage the lining of blood vessels, decrease coronary flow velocity reserves, and reduce heart rate variability, potentially increasing the risk of heart attack.
- Nineteen states prohibit smoking in almost all public places and workplaces, including restaurants and bars. (Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Washington, Vermont, and the District of Columbia)
- Four states prohibit smoking in most public places and workplaces, including restaurants, but exempt stand-alone bars. (Florida, Idaho, Louisiana and Nevada)
- Fifteen states partially or totally prevent (preempt) local communities from passing smoke-free air ordinances stronger than the statewide law.
- There's no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke.
- Short exposures to secondhand smoke can cause blood platelets to become stickier, damage the lining of blood vessels, decrease coronary flow velocity reserves, and reduce heart rate variability, potentially increasing the risk of heart attack.
- Allergies, asthma, bronchitis, other respiratory diseases and heart disease all are adversely affected by second-hand smoke.
- If a women smokes while she's pregnant, then there's a chance that the baby can get very sick or even die.
- A cigarette has over 4,700 chemicals!
http://www.co.chippewa.wi.us/CCDPH/CVTFC/secondhand.htm
