Emma's friend Megan lights up a cigarette every chance she gets — while she's cruising around with their friends on Friday nights, during breaks at the pizza place, before soccer scrimmages, even as she babysits her brother. Emma's worried — both for her friend's health and for her own. She's not sure Megan realizes how her habit could be affecting the health of the people she smokes around.
Everyone knows smoking is a bad idea. And by now you've probably heard that breathing in someone else's secondhand smoke is also hazardous to your health.
What Is Secondhand Smoke?
Secondhand smoke comes from both the smoke that smokers exhale (called mainstream smoke) and the smoke floating from the end of the cigarette, cigar, or pipe (called sidestream smoke).
It may seem pretty harmless, but secondhand smoke actually contains thousands of chemicals — from arsenic and ammonia to hydrogen cyanide — many of which have been proven to be toxic or to cause cancer (called carcinogens). High concentrations of many of these chemicals are found in secondhand smoke. In fact, secondhand smoke significantly increases a person's risk for:
- respiratory infections (like bronchitis and pneumonia)
- asthma (secondhand smoke is a risk factor for the development of asthma and can trigger attacks in those who already have it)
- coughing, sore throats, sniffling, and sneezing
- cancer
- heart disease
So secondhand smoke doesn't just impact a person in the future. It can cause problems right now, like affecting someone's sports performance or ability to be physically active.