Today i saw a child taking a pack of cigarette for his dad. I was really shocked the parents are not only exposing the child to passive smoking they also remove the moral values which prevents the child from smoking in future. It’s a vicious cycle.

A small effort to inform every one by smoking not only the smoker himself is at risk of cancer he is also putting his loved ones to the risk.

What is Passive Smoking?

Inhalation of smoke or environmental tobacco smoke by persons who are not actively smoking, by being in the vicinity of active smokers is termed as passive smoking. Friends, parents, spouse and smoking at public places can be responsible for any one being exposed to the harmful tobacco smoke.

Can Passive smoking cause cancer?

As per  International Agency for Research on Cancer passive smoking is a measure risk factor for cancer.The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified secondhand smoke as a class A carcinogen that is known to cause cancer and estimates that in the United States, secondhand smoke exposure causes approximately 3,400 lung cancer deaths.  It has been proved scientifically with studies across the world. The most common source of exposure has been spouse, followed by parents and work place and public place. The common cancers in a passive smokers are Lung Cancer, Breast cancer, Renal cell cancer, Pancreatic cancer and many childhood cancer like brain tumor especially when the fetus has in utero exposure to smoking. The overall risk depends on the effective dose received over time. The risk level is higher if non-smokers spend many hours in an environment where cigarette smoke is widespread, such as a business where many employees or patrons are smoking throughout the day, or a residential care facility where residents smoke freely.

How to prevent Passive smoking?

Home:

• Ask your spouse, parents, siblings to smoke outside.
• If not possible then its advisable to designate a smoking zone.
• Never allow guests, house hold workers to smoke at home.

Workplace:

The employers should make the office completely smoke free. If not it should be mandatory to smoke in smoking zone only.

If your company still allows smoking, you can help limit your exposure by taking steps like these:

• Give your employer copies of the EPA and NIOSH reports on the harmful health effects of environmental tobacco smoke
• Ask to work near other nonsmokers and as far away from smokers as possible.
• Ask smokers if they would not smoke around you.Thank those who care enough to stop.
• Use a fan and open windows to keep the air moving.
• Hang a “Thank You For Not Smoking” sign in your work area.
• Talk to your employer about the company’s smoking policy. Be sure your management knows that medical leaders think secondhand smoke is a serious problem that can make the workplace unsafe for nonsmokers. Give them a copy of this brochure or the EPA report.
• Volunteer to help develop a fair company policy that protects nonsmokers.

Public places: There is no safe level to passive smoking. In spite of ban by govt to smoke in public places its a far from achieved goal.Don’t accept what you can change. If a restaurant puts you at a table near smokers (even if you’re in a non-smoking section), ask to move. If smokers don’t obey nonsmoking rules, ask those in charge to enforce the rules. When people near you are smoking, ask them politely to either stop, move the ashtray, or hold their cigarette away from you.

Let us Take a step forward to prevent our children, wife, and others from suffering from cancer and other deadly diseases by not allowing people to smoke near us.

Reference:

• http://monographs.iarc.fr/ENG/Monographs/vol83/mono83-7B.pdf
• National Cancer Institute: Secondhand Smoke Questions and Answers
• National Cancer Institute: I Mind Very Much If Your Smoke
• http://www.livestrong.com/article/189316-ways-to-prevent-passive-smoking/#ixzz1w4Xr4hUA

Related articles

• Secondhand Smoke Destroys Good Cholesterol in Teen Girls (medindia.net)
• How Secondhand Smoke Affects Non-Smokers (everydayhealth.com)
• Secondhand Smoke is More Damaging For Teen Girls Than Boys (healthland.time.com)
• Aggressive behavior linked specifically to secondhand smoke exposure in childhood (psypost.org)
• Babies who breathe second-hand smoke are more likely to be aggressive adults (thisismoney.co.uk)
• Passive Smoking Facts with Thomas Karpiniuk (thomaskarpiniuk.wordpress.com)