The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Second-hand smoke is produced when a cigarette burns. It is made up of two components: mainstream smoke Ð what a smoker inhales and exhales sidestream smoke Ð what comes from the end of a burning cigarette (or cigar or pipe). Second-hand smoke contains many of the same harmful chemicals that a smoker inhales. Some of these cause cancer (carcinogens), like benzene and nickel. Other ingredients are poisons, like carbon monoxide and ammonia. This is a list of substances found in second-hand smoke. You canÕt see or even smell many of the harmful ingredients in second-hand smoke. Fans, ventilation systems and air purifiers may get rid of the cigarette smoke smell, but they donÕt remove the harmful chemicals. Second-hand smoke has twice as much nicotine and tar as the smoke that smokers inhale directly from their cigarettes. It also has five times as much carbon monoxide. Sidestream smoke is particularly dangerous. It contains the same carcinogens as mainstream smoke, but in even higher concentrations. See 'More' on pg. Continued from pg. A lit cigarette left sitting in an ashtray burns more slowly than when a person actively puffs on it, so it releases more smoke into the air. About two-thirds of the smoke from a burning cigarette is never inhaled by the smoker and goes directly into the environment. When you inhale second-hand smoke, harmful chemicals go into your lungs and are absorbed into your blood, organs and other body tissues. Your health can be affected after only eight minutes in a smoke-filled room...even when youÕre not smoking. In the short term, second-hand smoke can: irritate your eyes, nose and throat give you a headache make you feel dizzy or nauseous make your asthma worse increase your risk of respiratory infections like colds, bronchitis or pneumonia, or make them worse if youÕre already sick. The longer youÕre exposed to second-hand smoke, the more it will affect your health. For example, if you work in a smoky bar or restaurant, you could eventually develop serious health problems. Some of the long-term effects of second-hand smoke are: heart disease Êlung cancer nasal-sinus cancer non-malignant respiratory disease. Second-hand smoke is also linked to: stroke breast cancer cervical cancer. If youÕre pregnant and regularly exposed to second-hand smoke, you face an increased risk of: miscarriage having a low-birth-weight baby losing your baby to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of second-hand smoke.
