Passive Smoking

Passive smoking is when smoke is breathed in by someone other than the smoker. Passive smoking carries all the same health risks as smoking, and it’s particularly dangerous for children.

Why is it so dangerous?

Tobacco smoke contains more than 4,000 harmful and addictive chemicals, including nicotine, carbon monoxide and formaldehyde. Second-hand smoke (also known as environmental tobacco smoke) is smoke that comes from the burning cigarette (side-stream smoke) combined with the smoke breathed out by the smoker (mainstream smoke). Side-stream smoke makes up the majority of second-hand smoke and is more toxic than mainstream smoke.
If you smoke indoors, it’s not enough to just open a window. This is because the poisonous chemicals in smoke can stay in the air even after you have finished your cigarette. And don’t think that hanging out of the window will help – it won’t, and some research has shown that second-hand smoke lingers on clothes, carpets, furnishings and walls. This makes it almost impossible to keep second-hand smoke away from other people.

What effects can passive smoking have on non-smokers?

Short-term effects

Being exposed to second-hand smoke is generally pretty unpleasant – it may give you a headache, cough or sore throat. It can also irritate your eyes and make you feel sick or dizzy. If you have asthma, being in a smoky place may make your symptoms worse. And of course, although the smell of smoke on your clothes and hair may be less serious health-wise, it’s often more irritating.

Long-term effects

If you're regularly exposed to second-hand smoke, your risk of developing smoking-related diseases substantially increases. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that second-hand smoke increases your risk of heart disease and lung cancer by up to a third. Not only that, you’re more likely to develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which causes problems with breathing.

Effects on children

Children who are exposed to second-hand smoke are at an increased risk of a number of serious conditions, including:

• bronchitis and pneumonia
  
• asthma
  
• coughing and wheezing
  
• middle ear infections

There is also some evidence to suggest that being exposed to second-hand smoke may make existing conditions worse, decrease children’s ability to smell and reduce mental development.
If you’re exposed to second-hand smoke while you’re pregnant, it can lead to your baby having a low birth weight and he or she may not develop properly before birth. Smoking during pregnancy also increases the risk of cot death, as does smoking near your baby after he or she is born. In addition, women who breathe in second-hand smoke during pregnancy may have an increased risk of still birth.
Your child is also three times more likely to start smoking if he or she is exposed to second-hand smoke as a result of you smoking at home.

Produced by Polly Kerr, Bupa Health Information Team, October 2012.