Secondhand smoke is when a non-smoker inhales the smoke of a smoker. Also called involuntary smoking, it is considered to be one of the direct causes of lung cancer in non-smokers.
Passive smoking is as harmful as direct smoking ㅣ Source: Getty Imagesbank
It is estimated that over 100,000 chemicals are contained in cigarette smoke and more than 4,000 substances discovered so far have been found to account for over 95% of the total amount of smoke. At least 250 of them were found to be toxic or carcinogenic.
What is sidestream smoke from secondhand smoke?
The problem is that secondhand smoke, like direct smoking, exposes you to most of the harmful chemicals contained in cigarette smoke. Cigarette smoke inhaled during secondhand smoke is called sidestream smoke and its concentration is much higher than that of traditional smoke. According to a report from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) within the World Health Organization, sidestream smoke contains more benzene than traditional smoke from the direct smoke. naphthylamine and benzo (a) pyrene are respectively 13 to 30 times higher, 30 times higher and 2.5 to 3.5 times higher.
Additionally, as a result of an animal experiment in which sidestream smoke condensates and traditional smoke condensates were applied to the skin of laboratory mice, sidestream smoke condensates were 2-6 times more likely to cause skin cancer. For reference, direct smoking is more harmful than secondhand smoke because both traditional and secondary smoke are inhaled.
Main causes of cardiovascular disease
In 1986, after the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recognized the seriousness of secondhand smoke and presented an official report to the United States Congress and the President, a study on the harmful effects of secondhand smoke on human body and health started in earnest. As a result, secondhand smoke has been found to cause serious health problems, including lung cancer and heart disease, beyond the simple unpleasantness of cigarette smoking.
In particular, passive smoking is one of the main causes of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. According to a study published in the American College of Cardiology in 1994, there were more deaths from secondhand smoke coronary heart disease than from secondhand smoke lung cancer. According to a 2002 study by researchers from the University of Helsinki in Finland, passive smoking increases the risk of cardiovascular disease by approximately 25-25%.
Additionally, a study by the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine (WIPM) in the UK found that non-smokers living with smokers increased their risk of angina pectoris and myocardial infarction by 30%. This is about half the risk of angina or myocardial infarction for a smoker who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day.
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