Passive smoking a risk to mankind

There's been a lot of controversy in recent years about the dangers of passive smoking and the effects it is said to have on the non-smokers in society. Those who smoked used to fob off such claims as mere propaganda by the anti smoking task force. It was thought that these anti smokers were using any methods possible in order to get stronger restrictions on where smokers could and could not smoke. As a result, many changed their smoking behavior and places they smoked so as to limit the potential harm their habit could have on others. Obviously this was the right thing to do, the responsible action to take, especially when the findings reported such things as non-smokers have a 25% increased risk of developing lung cancer when exposed to passive smoking in the home.

It’s hard to gauge the affects of passive smoking in developing countries as their peoples live and work in totally different environments to us here in the West. In addition, much of the population in counties such as India and China are located in rural areas which makes the gathering of data near on impossible. But the statistics that have been collected from these counties thus far show that deaths by passive smoking are beginning to reveal some alarming figures. Passive smoking is particularly dangerous for children who may not be aware of the dangers they face when they breathe in second hand smoke. Perhaps the most disturbing fact about passive smoking is that it increases the chance of a young child dying from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Passive smoking is known to be more dangerous compared to that of the actual smoker. Reason of the matter is that lungs are a sensitive part of the human body.

Allergies can be contracted as well, stemming from unknown sources. One of the more common sources is that of polluted air or passive smoking as well. There are long term effects and short term effects with regards to their connection towards passive smoking. The long term effects are that of heart diseases, birth delivery issues, behavioral problems and a number of infections that can spread all over the body. Children are more at risk from passive smoking because of this, as well as the fact that they breath faster, so will inhale more, as well as more often. Children of a mother that smokes are three times more likely to suffer a cot death episode. Involuntary or passive smoking is associated with premature disease and death. The more the nonsmoker is exposed to environmental smoke, the greater the risk for premature morbidity and mortality .Nicotine is an addictive drug regardless of the method of delivery, and its effects are similar whether it is inhaled, as in smoking, or absorbed through the tissues of the oral cavity, as in dipping and chewing. The incidence of oral cancer may be 50 times higher among long term users of smokeless tobacco products than among nonusers. Smokeless tobacco is addictive and deadly.

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