The Harmful Effects of Secondhand Smoke to Health

Smokers are not the only persons whose health are at risk from smoking but also the non-smokers who by chances accumulate secondhand smokes.

Widely known as environmental tobacco smoke or ETS, secondhand smoke refers to the smoke exhaled by smokers along with the so-called side stream smoke that is coming from the end of burning pipe or cigarette sticks. The amount of harmful substances anyone can acquire from secondhand smokes is more than what is typically inhaled by a smoking person. In fact, there are over four thousand toxins are contained by the secondhand smokes with the inclusion of carcinogens and other harmful substances.

Respiratory infection is one of the major effects of smoking to health. This is also true to non-smokers who accumulate secondhand smokes. A common manifestation of this infection is the asthma progression. Non-smokers who developed asthma from secondhand smokes are more likely to experience severity of the condition. And this can happen to anyone of any age, especially children as their immunity is still weak. This makes them vulnerable to different types of health infection, too. The secondhand smoke irritates the bronchial passages that are persistently inflamed. This occurs to people who already seize asthma and has accrued ETS. Aside from asthma, secondhand smoke is also correlated with other types of diseases including ear infections, bronchitis, pneumonia and lung cancer.