The Facts
The US Surgeon General says there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke. In fact, if you’re around secondhand smoke, it’s like you’re smoking too. Even short exposure to secondhand smoke has immediate harmful effects and increases the risk for heart disease and lung cancer.
- Children and babies have small lungs that are still growing, so they have an even bigger risk from these poisons.
- When children breathe in smoke, it can cause health problems that stay with them their entire lives – like asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, more-frequent ear infections and allergies.
- Secondhand smoke makes the symptoms even worse for adults already suffering from asthma, allergies or bronchitis.
- Babies whose parents or caregivers smoke are twice as likely to die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
- Don’t forget about your furry and feathered friends! Did you know that pets that breathe secondhand smoke have more allergies, cancer and lung problems than pets living in smoke-free homes?
For more facts and information download the Secondhand Smoke: What it Means to You PDF file (prepared by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under the direction of the Office of the Surgeon General).
View the full Report of the Surgeon General on The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke (2006). Or, go to www.surgeongeneral.gov.
Additional facts on tobacco and secondhand smoke are available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at www.cdc.gov/tobacco.
