Passive (Second Hand) Smoking

It is estimated that there are about 53,000 deaths per year as a result of passive smoking in the United States alone! 37,000 of these deaths come from cardiovascular disease. 
  
The effects of tobacco smoke are just as bad, if not worse, in nonsmokers as in smokers. All of the risks for smokers also hold true for exposure to second hand smoke. Tobacco smoke is made up of many hazardous vapors and particles that when inhaled are harmful to both the smoker and to others around him/her. 
  
The smoke at the end of a burning cigarette has more particles that are smaller and more harmful than the smoke directly inhaled by the smoker. These smaller particles go deeper into the lung tissue and do more damage. 
  
Carbon Monoxide from passive smoke causes greater lack of oxygen in nonsmokers than the person smoking. With reduced oxygen, the heart, lungs and brain cannot function properly. This leads to permanent brain and vascular (blood vessel) change. These changes are more serious in women who are on the "pill!" 
  
When a nonsmoker marries a smoker, the risk of getting lung cancer and/or heart disease is doubled! 
  
Infants and children have tender tissues and are more susceptible to second hand smoke! They develop many lung problems (allergies, asthma, chronic bronchitis, heart problems). Many develop cancers when they get older. Children of parents who smoke, are hospitalized more frequently for bronchitis and pneumonia during their first year of life 
and have more acute respiratory illnesses before the age of two. They also have more cough and phlegm and may develop more chronic ear infections.