Passive smoking
hidePassive smoking is the inhalation of smoke, called secondhand smoke (SHS) or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), from tobacco products used by others. It occurs when tobacco smoke permeates any environment, causing its inhalation by people within that environment. Scientific evidence shows that exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke causes disease, disability, and death.
Passive smoking has played a central role in the debate over the harms and regulation of tobacco products. Since the early 1970s, the tobacco industry has been concerned about passive smoking as a serious threat to its business interests; harm to "innocent bystanders" was perceived as a motivator for stricter regulation of tobacco products. Despite an early awareness of the likely harms of secondhand smoke, the tobacco industry coordinated to engineer a scientific controversy with the aim of forestalling regulation of their products. Currently, the health risks of secondhand smoke are a matter of scientific consensus, and these risks have been one of the major motivations for smoking bans in workplaces and indoor public places, including restaurants, bars and night clubs.
For more information about Passive smoking, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
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News tagged with secondhand smoke
Children unaffected by smoking ban consequences
Nov 24, 2009 |
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The smoking ban in Wales has not displaced secondhand smoke from public places into the home. A study of 3500 children from 75 primary schools in Wales, published in the open access journal BMC Public Health, found that t ...
Study raises concerns about outdoor second-hand smoke
Nov 18, 2009 |
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Indoor smoking bans have forced smokers at bars and restaurants onto outdoor patios, but a new University of Georgia study in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that these outdoor smoking ...
Secondhand smoke exposure worse for toddlers, obese children
Nov 18, 2009 |
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Toddlers and obese children suffer more than other youth when exposed to secondhand smoke, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2009.
90 percent of Africans are not protected by smoke-free laws
Nov 11, 2009 |
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As African nations are poised to undergo the highest increase in the rate of tobacco use among developing countries, nearly 90 percent of people on the continent remain without meaningful protection from secondhand smoke, ...
Smoking bans reduce the risk of heart attacks associated with secondhand smoke
Oct 15, 2009 |
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Smoking bans are effective at reducing the risk of heart attacks and heart disease associated with exposure to secondhand smoke, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine. The report also confirms there is sufficient ...
Heart attack rates drop after smoking bans, continue downward over time
Sep 21, 2009 |
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One year after passing smoking bans, communities in North America and Europe had 17 percent fewer heart attacks compared to communities without smoking restrictions, and the number of heart attacks kept decreasing with time, ...
Second-hand smoking results in liver disease, study finds
Sep 10, 2009 |
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A team of scientists at the University of California, Riverside has found that even second-hand tobacco smoke exposure can result in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a common disease and rising cause ...
Japan's tobacco habit runs into court challenge
Aug 02, 2009 |
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(AP) -- One plaintiff is a cancer patient. Another is represented by his widow. The third, has emphysema and rolls into the courtroom on a wheelchair with tubes trailing out of his nose. The three Japanese ...
Rates of secondhand smoke exposure high among college students
Jul 21, 2009 |
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Secondhand smoke (SHS) is not only a nuisance, but a potential health concern for many college students, and administrators should be taking steps to reduce students' exposure, according to a new study by researchers at Wake ...
Cigarette smoke may rob children of needed antioxidants
May 04, 2009 |
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Children exposed to cigarette smoke have lower levels of antioxidants, which help the body defend itself against many biological stresses.
Blood tests reveal tobacco smoke residues in non-smoking New Yorkers
Apr 08, 2009 |
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More than half of non-smoking New Yorkers have elevated levels of cotinine in their blood - meaning that they were recently exposed to toxic second-hand smoke in concentrations high enough to leave residues in the body. Cotinine, ...
Second-hand smoke linked to cognitive impairment
Feb 13, 2009 |
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The research, published today in the British Medical Journal, highlighted a 44% increase in risk of cognitive impairment when exposed to high levels of second-hand smoke.
Tobacco smoke and alcohol harm liver worse as combo
Feb 03, 2009 |
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Exposure to second-hand smoke and alcohol significantly raises the risk of liver disease, according to researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
Avoiding secondhand smoke during pregnancy
Jan 27, 2009 |
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Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) commonly called secondhand smoke, can harm a developing fetus and may account for complications during pregnancy and birth. It is now known that non-whites experience more adverse pregnancy ...
Exposure to secondhand smoke reduced
Dec 02, 2008 |
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As the connection between second-hand smoke and coronary heart disease (CHD) became clearer and legislation was passed to reduce such passive smoking, exposures have been reduced. In an article published in the January 2009 ...
