DID YOU KNOW?

Secondhand smoke contains harmful gases and particles. At least 250 chemicals are known to be toxic, including more than 50 carcinogens, or cancer-causing agents.

Secondhand smoke (SHS) is sometimes referred to as “environmental tobacco smoke.” The broader definition of “secondhand smoke” includes two types of smoke:

Mainstream smoke (MS)—the smoke exhaled from the mouths of smokers into your breathing space and
Sidestream smoke (SS)—the smoke that comes from burning tobacco products such as cigarettes, cigars, bidis, kreteks/cloves, or pipes.

SHS contains harmful gases and particles. SHS contains at least 250 chemicals known to be toxic, including more than 50 carcinogens, or cancer-causing agents. (1)

Some of the chemicals in SHS include:

Substances that irritate the lining of the lung and other tissues
Carcinogens (cancer-causing compounds)
Mutagens (substances that promote genetic changes in the cell)
Developmental toxicants (substances that interfere with cell development).
Cotinine, a major metabolite of nicotine, is highly specific for tobacco smoke. Studies that test Cotinine levels in blood, saliva and urine show that nonsmokers have Cotinine in their blood.

SS contains the same compounds as those identified in the direct-to-lung smoke inhaled by smokers. SS smoke has higher concentrations of some toxic and carcinogenic substances than mainstream smoke.

Remember the irritants, toxicants and carcinogens mentioned above? Guess where else (besides SHS) you might find some of these lovely substances?

Irritants and toxicants:

Ammonia (often in common household cleaners)
Formaldehyde (used to preserve body tissue and fabric)
Carbon monoxide (also found in car exhaust)
Nicotine (insecticide/addictive drug)
Toluene (industrial solvent)

Nitrogen dioxide (also known as “silo gas” which can injure or kill people or animals)
Hydrogen cyanide (gas chamber poison)
Acrolein (also found in chemical weapons)
Acetaldehyde (also found in vehicle exhausts, incomplete combustion of fireplaces and waste processing)

Carcinogens (cancer causing agents):

Benzo[a]pyrene (also a component or contaminant of tar and asphalt)
2-Napthylamine (a dye)
4-Aminobiphenyl (no longer manufactured commercially; it was used as a rubber antioxidant and a dye intermediate in the past)
Benzene (also in rubber cement)
Vinyl chloride (makes PVC)
Arsenic (poison)
Chromium (the metal chromium, which is the chromium (0) form, is used for making steel. Chromium (VI) and chromium (III) are used for chrome plating, dyes, and pigments, leather tanning, and wood preserving
Polonium-210 (a radioactive element, used in photography)

Bottom line? The long term health effects of exposure to SHS have been shown to be similar to those suffered by tobacco users: lung cancer, heart disease and stroke.

references | updated: 09.14.2007

references

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking and Tobacco Use, Fact Sheet, Secondhand Smoke. Retrieved October 29, 2007 from http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/Factsheets/SecondhandSmoke.htm.
Passive smoking and health. Educational Resource kit. Institute for Global Tobacco Control. Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. 1999.
Samet JM, Wang SS. Environmental Tobacco Smoke. In: Environmental Toxicants: Human Exposures and Their Health Effects (Lippmann M, ed). New York:Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, Inc.,2000;319-375.
World Health Organization. Retrieved August 2003 from www.who.int/toh.
Health Canada. Retrieved August 2003 from www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hecs-sesc/tobacco.
National Cancer Institute. Retrieved August 2003 from www.nci.gov.
Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. Retrieved August 2003 from www.oehha.org.

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