Sick by Association: The Dangers of Second-Hand Smoke

I never understood what it meant to smell like cigarette smoke until I spent my first night away from home at college for undergrad. As I hung my clothes in the campus provided chifferobe, I noticed that everything from my favorite denim jacket to the duffel bag I carried it in smelled like I had been hanging in a back alley pool hall. Now I understood why past boyfriends had always suspected that I had been in a bar all night or why classmates in high school would always assume I had a lighter. I never could smell it until I actually moved out of my house. The problem is that I didn’t even smoke, but I did live in a house with parents who had smoked all of my life

My parents have been cigarette smokers for as long as I can remember. Scattered through my childhood memories are random images of elegant Virginia Slims wrappers and emerald-green Newport boxes. In fact, about half of all of the pictures in our family photo album have my dad with a lit cigarette in his hand. I never understood how my mom could abstain from nicotine use for the nine months she was carrying me and then soon after my birth pick up the habit like it was an old friend back from grad school.

My parents grew up in the 1960s. This was a time when a vast majority of the public was beginning to learn just how dangerous the effects of tobacco usage were for the user. 1966 was the first year that cigarette packaging was required to have any kind of cautionary label about the hazards of cigarette smoking, and even then that label didn’t elude to exactly what those hazards were until 1985 when the label finally read, “SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Smoking Causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, and May Complicate Pregnancy.” The warnings continued to grow in detail over the next 20, but as proven by a survey conducted by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in 2007, still 43.4 million of U.S. adults were current cigarette smokers.

It’s one thing if my parents wanted to play Russian roulette with their own health, but what about that of their children’s? The fact is that many people, my parents included, fail to take the effects of second-hand smoke all that seriously. It’s not that I believe my parents loved me any less, but honestly, they’re old school and had difficulty making the connection between how the smoke that they inhaled into their own lungs could somehow affect my sister and I, who were tucked tightly every night in our bedrooms all the way down the hallway.

Here’s what many people don’t know about smoking: Most of the smoke from a burning cigarette does not get inhaled into the smoker’s lungs, it escapes into the air. Meaning that anyone nearby is essentially lighting one up with the actual nicotine user. For this reason, many states have passed laws that outlaw smoking in public places such as shopping malls, movie theaters, airplanes and bars. Unfortunately, there is no federal law that protects the children living in the home of a smoking adult. What exactly is second-hand smoke? Sidestream second-hand smoke is any smoke that is inhaled from the end of a lit, smoldering cigarette, cigar or pipe. Mainstream second-hand smoke is one that is exhaled from that of the smoker and inhaled by those surrounding him/her. What my mother and father didn’t realize is that they were exposing me to the same chemicals that they voluntarily chose to take into their bodies. Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemical compounds of which more than 60 are known to cause cancer including hydrogen cyanide (a poisonous gas used in chemical weapons), Benzene (also found in gasoline), formaldehyde and carbon monoxide.

As a child I experienced frequent cases of pneumonia, bronchitis, asthma and allergies that if weren’t caused by second-hand smoke, were only aggravated by my surroundings. Even today I still struggle with allergic reactions that often result in shortness of breath. Although, I have no doubt that my parents place my health as their top priority, I understand that they were just mistakenly misinformed and are just beginning to wonder if their habit may have had something to do with the allergies I presently deal with. But just think: If parents can unknowingly place their children’s health at risk, what does that say about your good friend who always has to light up when they’re giving you a lift, or the co-worker who takes their daily 15-minute smoke breaks beneath your office window? Of course, they know what they’ve signed up for, they just may not care or are struggling to battle their addiction. What exactly have they signed you up for without your permission? Check out the following stats courtesy of The American Cancer Society:

Researchers have found that women who have been exposed to second-hand smoke face a 69% higher risk of heart disease and a 56% higher risk of stroke than those who weren’t exposed.

126 million non-smoking Americans are exposed to second-hand smoke at home and at work.

More than 40% of children who visit the emergency room for severe asthma attacks live with smokers.

Children exposed to second-hand smoke are at a higher risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), asthma, inner-ear and respiratory infections.

About 3000 non-smokers die every year from lung disease as a result of repeated exposure to second-hand smoke.

A 2005 report from the California Environmental Protection Agency concluded that the evidence regarding second-hand smoke and breast cancer “is consistent with a causal association” in young women.

Even today, I am still on a campaign to convince my parents to quit this habit, but I am grateful for the fact that I learned just how uncool smoking was in my very own house long before my friends could tell me otherwise. What can you do if you’re struggling with a nicotine addiction, but don’t want those around you to suffer?

Quit. Whether you have been smoking for two years or 20, it’s never a bad time to ditch your habit. Seek tobacco cessation counseling; try nicotine patches, gum or nicotine-free cigarettes. You won’t only improve your health, but the health of those around you.

Try your hardest to not smoke at home, work or confined spaces like the car. Keep your habit confined to areas where your smoke doesn’t affect others.

The only way to fully protect non-smokers from exposure to second-hand smoke is to prevent ALL smoking from that indoor space or building. Separation of smokers from non-smokers, cleaning the air, ventilation and filters still does not protect non-smokers completely from second-hand smoke.

By: Toya Sharee. You can follow her on Twitter @TheTrueTSharee.

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