Secondhand smoke is a poisonous side-effect of smoking tobacco by which everyone are affected who is exposed to it. It is also known as ETS i.e. Environmental Tobacco Smoke. Secondhand smoke is a mixture of side stream smoke approaching from the burning of tobacco and the typical smoke that is breathe out by the smoker. It includes over 4000 constituents of chemicals, a huge amount of which are the inducers of illnesses of respiratory system and about 40 are suspected carcinogens.
ETS are not filtered, so the intensity of carcinogens is much more as compared to smoke breathed openly by an active smoker. Cigarette smoking generates smoke from two main places, mostly from the cigarette’s tip and from the remaining cigarette as the warm vapors enlightened by way of cigarette. It involves highest levels of carbon monoxide, tar, nicotine and several other carcinogens. Thus, a continuous contact with ETS is in fact more harmful than directly smoking for the same period. The following are the effects of contact to secondhand smoke:
• Immediate effects:
Direct effects of secondhand smoking include eye irritation, sore throat, nausea, dizziness, cough and headache.
• Long-term effects:
-Lung cancer: Secondhand smoke is the main reason of lung cancer amongst non-smokers. It has been revealed by studies that people who were in contact with secondhand smoke happened to be three times more facing lung cancer.
-Cardiovascular problems: Secondhand smoke can stimulate long-term and short-term damage to the heart by lessening its functional capacity and decreasing the capacity of blood to clutch oxygen. Chemicals present in secondhand smoke can harden or block the arteries, leading to problems like hypertension, heart attack and atherosclerosis. Secondhand smoke increases the risk of heart attack more by two times.
-Stroke: Non-smokers who are in contact with secondhand smoke have additional risk of stroke as compared to non-exposed people.
-Asthma: People who are exposed to secondhand smoke have two times more the risk of getting asthma than non-exposed people.
-Breast cancer: Secondhand smoke increases the risk of breast cancer amongst women.
• Effects on fetus:
If a woman smokes during her pregnancy then she can face various severe consequences on the growing fetus.
¬- Generally babies are born prematurely and low weight to women doing smoking at the time of their pregnancy.
- Their organs, mainly the lungs, are small as compared to other babies and they are more inclined to death.
- They may remain ill for all their life and most probably they are likely to get addicted to tobacco in their later life.
• Effects on children:
Children who are exposed to secondhand smoke are more likely to get affected with asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia and further respiratory problems.
Secondhand smoking also increases the chances of developing cancer in children during their middle age.
Thus, secondhand smoke has harmful and threatening effects on individual’s health.

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