Secondhand Smoke Facts

• Secondhand tobacco smoke is a mixture of smoke from the burning end of a cigarette, pipe or cigar, and the smoke that is exhaled by smokers.


• When a cigarette is smoked, about one-half of the smoke goes out into the air to be inhaled by others.


• Secondhand smoke contains the same toxic compounds as the smoke inhaled by the smoker.


• Secondhand tobacco smoke is a potent mixture of over 4,000 chemicals and hundreds of them are poisonous. At least 50 are believed to cause cancer.


• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency classifies secondhand tobacco smoke as a Group A carcinogen, (known to cause cancer in humans.)


• Secondhand smoke contains nicotine, carbon monoxide, pesticides, radioactive elements, ammonia and formaldehyde, just to name a few.


• People can be exposed to secondhand smoke at home, at work or in public places -- wherever smoking is allowed.


• A 1991 study found that almost 90% of the U.S. population had measurable exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke.


• Research indicates that smoke-filled rooms can have up to six times the air pollution of a busy highway.


• Children are most frequently exposed to secondhand smoke in their own homes.


• Research has linked secondhand smoke exposure to many serious health conditions, such as lung cancer, heart disease, and pneumonia.


• Secondhand smoke causes about 3,000 lung cancer deaths annually among adult nonsmokers. It may also cause as many as 35,000 deaths from heart disease.


• Non-smoking spouses of heavy smokers have a nearly doubled risk of developing lung cancer.


• Studies have also linked secondhand smoke exposure to other cancers, chronic adverse effects on the heart and lungs, and impaired fertility.

• Children are especially vulnerable to the effects of secondhand tobacco smoke.


• Children exposed to secondhand smoke have an increased risk of ear infections, asthma, pneumonia and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)


• The EPA estimates that between 150,000 and 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections in infants and young children (such as pneumonia and bronchitis) are caused by exposure to secondhand smoke, resulting in up to 15,000 hospitalizations.


• As many as one million asthmatic children have their condition worsened by secondhand smoke.


• People who work in places that allow indoor smoking have significantly higher rates of heart attacks and are 34% more likely to develop lung cancer.


• Secondhand smoke causes more deaths each year than all other regulated chemical work hazards combined.


• In an eight hour shift, some workers in restaurants and bars inhale the equivalent of smoking one to two packs of cigarettes.


• Employers have been found liable for illnesses caused by secondhand smoke in their workplaces.


• Restaurant workers are the occupational group most likely to suffer adverse health effects due to secondhand smoke exposure.


• A restaurant employees' secondhand smoke exposure is typically 3-5 times higher than other workplaces.


• Restaurant workers with heavy secondhand smoke exposures have levels of carcinogens in their blood 2-3 times higher than normal.


• In California, waitresses are almost four times more likely to die of lung cancer than other occupational groups.


• Separating smokers and nonsmokers within the same airspace has little effect on exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke.


• Heating, air conditioning and ventilation systems simply recirculate secondhand smoke throughout the building.


• Current air cleaning or filtering technologies cannot remove dangerous secondhand smoke components from the air.