What Are The Health Risks Of Second Hand Smoke?

1. Second Hand Smoke Is A Leading Cause Of Disease, Including Lung Cancer And Coronary Heart Disease, In Otherwise Healthy Non-smokers. Surgeon General’s Report “The Health Consequences Of Involuntary Exposure To Tobacco Smoke” 2006 There Is NO Safe Level Of Second Hand Smoke! What Are The Health Risks Of Second Hand Smoke?

2. Every Year, Second Hand Smoke In California Causes: • 5,500 heart disease deaths • 1,600low birth weight babies • 52,000 ear infections • 36,000lower respiratory infections • 3,100 NEW cases of asthma • 31,000cases of asthma made worse • 21 SIDS deaths • 1,100cases of lung cancer • > 1,100 cases of sinus cancer

3. Eliminating Second Hand Smoke • From 1988 through 2002, measurable blood cotinine (a nicotine byproduct) levels decreased by: • 74% in children aged 4--11 years. • 79% in persons aged 12--19 years. • 83% in persons aged >20 years. • In other words – second hand smoke laws protect children and non-smokers from the health effects of second hand smoke. • While this may be good news, it still leaves millions of American exposed to second hand smoke in their work, home and social environments.

4. Second Hand Smoke • 3,000 adult lung cancer deaths per year are due to second hand smoke & 50,000 total deaths are due to cancer, heart disease, diabetes, etc. • 300,000 hospital admissions for kids under 18 months due to respiratory and ear infections. • If your child has to undergo surgery and you or someone around you is a smoker, then your child is more likely to: • Have problems waking up after the surgery, • Have problems inhaling mucous while waking up, • And may need to be admitted to the hospital over night until they fully recover from the anesthesia.

5. Respiratory Diseases: Asthma – both as a cause and making it worse & more difficult to control Bronchitis. Chronic cough. Impaired breathing. Sore throats. Wheezing. Tightness in the chest Pneumonia. Chronic respiratory problems. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Allergies. Phlegm. Sinusitis, Worsening of cystic fibrosis. Reduced pulmonary function- both for children and adults. Tracheitis. Laryngitis. Nasal irritation to the odor of smoke Second Hand Smoke If You Smoke Anywhere Around Other People - You Are Causing: • Vascular diseases: • Heart disease. • Stroke. • Atherosclerosis • Coronary heart disease • High cholesterol • Faster blood clotting

6. Cancer: Sinus Cancer. Cervical cancer. Lymphoma Lung cancer. Breast cancer. Inner ear damage. Colic. Tooth decay. 1 in 5 will develop diabetes. Infertility. Mouth infections. Menstrual disorders. Early menopause. Second Hand Smoke If You Smoke Anywhere Around Other People - You Are Causing : • And a myriad of other diseases such as: • Adenoid disease. • Snoring. • Tonsillitis. • Sinusitis, • Meningitis. • Ear infections –middle ear effusions. • Eye irritation and tearing

7. Clearing The Air! • The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has stated as recent as 2006 that “no known indoor ventilation system meets their standards for totally eliminating ETS”, thereby banning any indoor tobacco spaces where smokers & non-smokers share a single air system. • Simply separating smokers and non-smokers within the same air space may reduce, but does not eliminate, the exposure of non-smokers to environmental smoke. • In fact, air conditioning systems can spread tobacco smoke throughout a building

8. Tobacco & Infant Health • Female exposure to second-hand smoke as a child or in utero may be associated with an increased risk of spontaneous abortion in adulthood. • If you smoke & breast feed, your baby doesn’t feed properly, gets colicky, gets ear infections, drinks nicotine in the breast milk and you also produce less volume and poorer quality breast milk. • Higher rates of heart defects, even from second hand smoke. • Higher rates of early labor & low birth weight. • Higher rates of respiratory infections, especially if the mother is smoking.

9. Tobacco & Infant Health • Higher rates of ear infections & middle ear effusions. • Damage to the child’s immune system. • Increase in infections in the child’s mouth. • Loss of hearing of softer sounds and unable to pick out sounds from background noise and remember them. • The babies have sleep disorders. • DNA damage in the developing fetus if either parent smokes. • Decreased lung function that lasts a lifetime – both from prenatal exposure and as second hand smoke after birth.

10. Tobacco & Pregnancy • When a woman smokes, the amount of oxygen reaching the baby’s brain is cut by 1/3. • When a baby is born to a pregnant smoker, her baby goes through cold turkey for the first few weeks of life. • When a baby is born to a pregnant smoker, the baby’s brain is already hard wired for nicotine addiction because of the nicotine that passes across the placenta and into the baby’s brain.

11. SIDS • Tobacco use - both directly and as second hand smoke - is one of the leading causes of sudden infant death syndrome. • There are 2,300 SID’s deaths in the US every year that are due to second hand tobacco smoke alone. • 1 in 10 deaths in infants under 1 year of age are tobacco related. • Tobacco use in the home doubles the risk of SID’s.

12. Children’s Health • There are over 6,000 deaths every year in the US of children under age 5 that are directly related to second hand smoke. • Smoke increases in the number of asthma attacks and severity of symptoms in up to 1 million children with asthma. • The leading cause of asthma in children in the U.S. is exposure to tobacco smoke. • 40% of childhood meningitis cases are related to second hand smoke. • Possibly higher rates of childhood cancers such as childhood leukemia, lymphomas & brain tumors.

13. Children’s Health • Tobacco use, either in the home or outside, is now starting to become a factor in parental rights & visitation in divorce cases. • Texas, Maine, Vermont, Louisiana, Arkansas, Puerto Rico & Washington have passed child passenger laws banning smoking in all foster care and in all cars where children are passengers.

14. Children’s Health • Even if you smoke outdoors……. • You are still exhaling smoke for 15 minutes when you come back inside! • Your kids are still exposed to the chemicals in tobacco. • If you use tobacco anywhere around your child, they are learning to use tobacco from you. So the sooner you give up tobacco, the less likely your kids are to ever start using tobacco. • Kids in smoking households miss four times more school than non-tobacco homes due to more colds, asthma, etc. • When kids miss too much school, they are put behind a year in their schooling.

15. Third Hand Smoke! • Third hand smoke is the particles and gases given off by cigarettes that cling to walls, clothes and even hair and skin. • Up to 90% of the nicotine in cigarette smoke sticks to nearby surfaces. • The same chemicals that leave a stale cigarette odor on clothes and upholstery also can be swallowed, inhaled or absorbed through the skin of non-smokers. • Children also may be at greater risk because they breathe faster than adults and inhale more chemicals. • Adults also may be exposed to significant smoke residue if they rent cars, hotel rooms or apartments that have soaked up years worth of smoke.

16. Tobacco Cessation Classes At NHTP • Classes are offered 4 Tuesdays in a row. • Classes are offered at 1200 & 1730 in NHTP. • Both patches & Zyban are offered to aid in cessation. • Classes are free to all and you can return as often as you need. • Upcoming tobacco classes begin on 27 Mar & 24 Apr 07. • Call 830-2814 to sign up for the next class.