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Second Hand Smoke

Also known as environmental tobacco smoke, second hand smoke is a term used to describe cigarette smoke that comes from two sources—smoke that is exhaled by the smoker (mainstream smoke) and smoke produced by a smoldering burning cigarette (side-stream smoke).

Second hand smoke is known to contain at least 250 poisonous chemicals and another 70 cancer-causing chemicals. According to the U.S. Surgeon General, there is no risk-free level of exposure to second hand smoke. That means if you can smell cigarette smoke in the air, it could be harming your health.

Just half an hour of second hand smoke can impair normal blood flow to the heart, a Japanese study suggests.

The study examined the effects of spending 30 minutes in a hospital's smoking room on 15 non smoking men and 15 smokers. The smokers, whose heart arteries already showed damage, were not affected. But in non-smokers, the result was a reduced ability of heart arteries to dilate, which previous research has suggested may be a precursor to hardening of the arteries.

If exposure continues, "gradually, as hardening of the arteries sets in, it's irreversible, " he said. The study "really sort of confirms prior information that we've had about the adverse effects of second hand smoke," Faxon said.

In the study, Dr. Ryo Otsuka of Osaka City University Medical School and colleagues used blood pressure tests and an imaging technique called echocardiography to examine the effect on heart arteries' ability to dilate. Measurements were taken before and after exposure to second hand smoke.

"People walking into a smoky restaurant, do they want to be clobbering the ability of the arteries in the heart to get blood to the heart, even if it's just for a little while?" he said.

Seth Moskowitz, spokesman for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., said the study does not change the company's belief that there is no scientific evidence establishing that second hand smoke is a risk factor for lung cancer, heart disease or any other disease in adult non-smokers.

Second Hand Smoke Chemicals

If you are a smoker, you may try not to think about the chemicals in cigarettes. Poisons, toxic metals, and carcinogens enter your bloodstream with every puff you take. Those chemicals affect everything from blood pressure and pulse rate to the health of your organs and immune system.


Air tainted with cigarette smoke is dangerous for anyone who breathes it, smoker or not.

Take a closer look at some of the harmful chemicals in cigarettes and how they affect your health.

Carcinogens

A carcinogen is defined as any substance that can cause or aggravate cancer. Approximately 70 of the chemicals in cigarettes are known to cause cancer.

Benzene:

Can be found in pesticides and gasoline. It is present in high levels in cigarette smoke and accounts for half of all human exposure to this hazardous chemical.

Formaldehyde:

This is a chemical that, in liquid form, is used to preserve dead bodies. In gaseous form, it is responsible for some of the nose, throat, and eye irritation smokers experience when breathing in cigarette smoke.

Vinyl chloride:

This is a man-made chemical that is used to make plastics. Smokers are exposed to it through cigarette filters.

Toxic Metals

Toxic/heavy metals are metals and metal compounds that have the potential to harm our health when absorbed or inhaled. In very small amounts, some of these metals support life, but when taken in large amounts, they can become toxic.

Arsenic:

This is commonly used in rat poison. Arsenic finds its way into cigarette smoke through some of the pesticides that are used in tobacco farming.

Cadmium:

This is a toxic heavy metal that is used in batteries. Smokers typically have twice as much cadmium in their bodies as non smokers.