Increased Risk for Second Hand Smokers

US Surgeon General Richard Carmona warned this morning in a television conference about the side effects tobacco smoke has on second hand smokers, the ones that do not smoke, but inhale instead the harmful smoke coming from the lit cigarettes.
He also claims that providing no-smoking areas or locations such as workplaces, pubs or restaurants, where smoking has already been banned, is not enough.

"Smoke-free environments are the only approach that protects nonsmokers from the dangers of secondhand smoke," he said. Even if until now the negative effects of smoking on non-smokers have been disputable, without no evidence whether this really affects them or not, Dr. Carmona stated that tobacco smoke grew to be an alarming public health enemy.

His continual reports on how nicotine works against passive smokers have come with solid evidence: smoke inhaling leads to premature deaths from heart disease and cancer, especially for the ones who already suffer from respiratory or heart disorders. The risk of getting ill with such diseases is increased with 20-30% for the non-smokers adults exposed to tobacco smoke.

Exposure to tobacco smoke also causes Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in children whose mothers have been second hand smoking during pregnancy, as well as to children that inhale the smoke in their houses from the parents' cigarettes. In this respect, Dr. Carmona said that "children are especially vulnerable to the poisons in secondhand smoke" and urged the parents to "make the home a smoke-free environment."

The report presented today also found that passive smoking can possibly lead to other forms of cancers, including childhood cancer, breast cancer and nasal sinus cancer.

Even if the General did not call for any federal ban on smoking, he said that he is waiting to see what the measures taken in this regard will be.