We all know that smoking is dangerous. They say a drop of nicotine can kill a horse not to mention a human being. But without knowing the facts and going deeper into the problem it can sound really abstract.

All the words about negative effects of smoking on one’s health and their fatal outcomes seem to be far away and can in no means have an impact on us. Although we hear reports of medical institutions and centers stating number of persons getting ill and dying every day because of injurious chemical compounds that cigarettes contain we still don’t believe that it can have any reference to us.

But smoking is much more than that. It has a negative influence not only on smokers’ health. Nonsmokers can not be altogether protected or guarded from smoking neighbors, colleagues, friends and surrounding them smokers. They have to breathe in smoke that comes from lighted cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco products and they also breathe in smoke that is exhaled by a smoker. The mixture of both smokes is called secondhand smoke or environmental tobacco smoke.

When a person that doesn’t smoke is close to a smoker with a lighted cigarette he or she involuntarily takes part in smoking. Thus a nonsmoker absorbs nicotine and other compounds just as a smoker does. This process is called passive smoking. Even the lower exposure to smoke received by the nonsmoker carries with it a threat to his or her health.

Researchers claim that secondhand smoke contains 4 000 injurious chemical compounds, several of which are known to cause cancer. It has been proven scientifically that secondhand smoke is responsible for lung cancer, coronary heart diseases, respiratory problems, including coughing, phlegm, chest discomfort, pneumonia, bronchitis and other adverse health effects on nonsmokers.

Every year Environmental Protection Agency reports about thousands of deaths resulting from heart failure or lung cancer caused by involuntarily smoking. People under long-term exposure of secondhand smoke are at the increased risk of stroke. Younger women in the same situation develop a probable chance to have a breast cancer.

And the most unprotected group that is exposed to secondhand smoke is children. First of all children can not control their environment and secondly their organisms are still physically developing. That's why secondhand smoke exposure can have damaging results on their health.

A lot of children with smoking environment are at the great risk of – getting asthma or worsening asthma conditions; – becoming ill with pneumonia, bronchitis and other lung diseases;

– developing middle ear infections (an irreparable consequence of middle ear infection can often be hearing loss of a child); – dying from sudden infant death syndrome (up to 2700 infants annually die in the USA because of second-hand smoke exposure); – having reading deficits or reducing their cognitive abilities to learn.

It is not the whole list of harmful effects on child’s health that can last for a lifetime. And there is much more to say about diseases and health problems connected with this issue.

Smoking is surely a free personal choice. But having chosen this habit we should always remember about those around us that could be suffering from it. We should also take into consideration that we can be injuring our beloved ones and take every precaution not to harm anybody: our children, neighbors, friends or just strangers from the street. We should try to minimize negative impact of secondhand smoke.

Lyudmyla