The 'side stream smoke' that comes off cigarettes between puffs carries a higher risk than directly inhaled smoke.

Anyone who is near a lit cigarette, pipe, or cigar is probably breathing second-hand smoke: a combination of the smoke from the burning tobacco, and whatever the smoker exhales. Just like smokers, a non-smoker breathing second-hand smoke is exposed to roughly 3,700 different chemicals. Many of them are poisonous; others are powerful carcinogens.

Passive smoking irritates the eyes, nose, and chest, and can cause headaches. There seems to be a small increase in the risk of lung cancer; and recent research has shown that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke can cause heart disease in non-smokers.

The more second-hand smoke you breathe, the greater the risk of a heart attack or stroke, and the greater the risk of lung cancer. Breathing can become more difficult and asthma can be triggered.

On an average night in a pub, a passive smoker will consume the equivalent of approximately one cigarette; in a very smoky atmosphere, a non-smoker takes in about a quarter of a milligram of nicotine an hour.  With the average cigarette having a milligram of nicotine, that's one passive cigarette every four hours.

03/06/2009