Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., killing more than 400,000 people annually—in Arkansas 4,900 smoker die each year. Second-hand smoke is the third leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., killing more than 50,000 non-smokers each year—490 nonsmokers in Arkansas die each year of illnesses attributable to tobacco.
- A California Environmental Protection Agency’s in 1997 reports the chemicals found in secondhand smoke exposure is causally linked to lung and nasal sinus cancer, heart disease and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS.) Serious impacts on children include asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia, middle ear infections, meningitis, chronic respiratory symptoms, and low birth weight. (Health Effects of Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke: Final Report, Sacramento: California Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, September 1997)
- The chemicals found in secondhand smoke include irritants and systemic toxicants, mutagens and carcinogens, and reproductive and developmental toxicants. To date, over 50 compounds in tobacco smoke have been identified as cancer causing agents. (Health Effects of Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke: Final Report, Sacramento: California Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, September 1997)
- Workers exposed to secondhand smoke on the job are 34% more likely to get lung cancer. (Fontham, et al. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, 1991; 135:35-43)
- The scientific evidence regarding the health effects of secondhand smoke did not begin with the release of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report in 1992. As early as 1975, there was evidence in the scientific literature that secondhand smoke was a cause of cardiac and respiratory disease.
- The health risks associated with smoking for both men and women are well known, and include a two-fold increase in risks of heart disease and of cancers of the bladder, stomach and pancreas and a ten-fold increase in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Smoking also significantly increases risks of stroke and pneumonia. (InteliHealth, www.intelihealth.com, May 1, 2001)
- Most health risks associated with smoking are reduced or eventually eliminated when smoking abstinence is maintained.
- Every time a smoker lights up around a nonsmoker, the smoker negatively impacts the health of those who chose not to smoke.
- Secondhand smoke causes lung cancer and heart disease in lifetime nonsmokers.
- Research indicates: (CNS Drugs, May 2001)
- Nicotine replacement therapy may not be as effective for women.
- Women smokers are more fearful than men of gaining a lot of weight if they quit.
- Medications to aid smoking cessation are not currently recommended for pregnant women.
- A woman’s menstrual cycle affects tobacco withdrawal symptoms and responses to anti-smoking drugs may vary by cycle phase.
- Husbands may provide less effective support to women who are trying to quit smoking than wives give to husbands.
- Women may be more susceptible than men to environmental cues to smoking, such as smoking with specific friends or smoking associated with specific moods.
- Many women may enjoy the feeling of control associated with smoking a cigarette.
- Women account for 39% of all smoking-related deaths each year in the United States. The report concludes that the increased likelihood of lung cancer, cardiovascular disease and reproductive health problems among female smokers makes tobacco use a serious women’s health issue. (Women and Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General.” CDC Office of Smoking and Health, March 27, 2001)
- Tobacco use is responsible for more deaths than alcohol, auto accidents, AIDS, suicides, murders, and illegal drugs combined.
- On average, adult men and women smokers lose 13.2 and 14.5 years of life, respectively, because they smoke [they lose approximately 14 years of life, not to mention years of pain before death.] (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, “Annual Smoking Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost and Economic Costs-United States 1995-1999” April 12, 2002 51:14)
- Every time a smoker lights up around a nonsmoker, they negatively affect the health of those who chose not to smoke.
- Secondhand smoke causes lung cancer and heart disease in lifetime nonsmokers.
Secondhand Smoke
- Warning: When you smoke, your family smokes.
- Smokers aren’t the only one’s who smoke.
- Give us a little breathing room, if you smoke take it outside.
- Living with a smoker is like inhaling 50 packs of cigarettes a year.
- Secondhand smoke is a 1st rate killer.
- Where should the tobacco industry put the label for people who breathe?
- What the smoker does to himself may be his business, but what the smoker does to the nonsmoker is quite a different matter.
- We are not telling people they can’t smoke, we’re asking them not to smoke in a way that harms others.
- Tobacco use affects everyone. Secondhand smoke is the third leading cause of preventable death. Every time someone lights a cigarette near you they are potentially harming your health. Secondhand smoke causes lung cancer, other cancer, heart disease and both major and minor illnesses in children.
- Secondhand smoke is the third leading cause of preventable death in this country killing, 53,000 nonsmokers in the U.S. each year. For every eight smokers the tobacco industry kills, it takes one nonsmoker with them. (Glantz, S.A. &Parmley, W., “Passive Smoking and Heart Disease: Epidemiology, Physiology and Biochemistry,” Circulation, 1991; 83(1):1-12; and Taylor, A. Johnson, D. & Kazemi, H., “Environmental Tobacco Smoke and Cardiovascular Disease,” Circulation, 1992; (86): 699-702.)
- Following the basic laws of physics, secondhand smoke rapidly diffuses throughout a room. It takes more than three hours for 95% of the smoke in a room to dissipate once smoking has ended. (Repace, J. “Risk Management and Passive Smoking at Work and at Home,” St. Louis University Public Law Review, 12(2): 763-785, 1994)
- Many people have higher levels of exposure to secondhand smoke than they believe, much of it stemming from the workplace. 88% of nonsmokers have significant levels of nicotine residue in their blood. (Pirkle, et al., “Exposure of the US Population to Environmental Tobacco Smoke: The Third National Health & Nutrition Examination Survey, 1988-1991,” JAMA 275:1233-1240, 1996)
- Given that tobacco use is the largest preventable cause of premature death in the U.S., reducing tobacco use and ETS exposure should be important goals in all Arkansas communities.
- Many employers and employees understand the health hazards of secondhand smoke and support clean indoor air policies. All workers in Arkansas communities deserve the right to breathe clean indoor air and should not have to be exposed to health risks from tobacco smoke in the workplace. (Shopland, Gerlach, Burns et. al,; “State Specific Trends in Smoke-Free Workplace Policy Coverage: The Current Population Survey Tobacco Use Supplement,” Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, 1993-1999)
Thirdhand Smoke: Growing Awareness of Health Hazard
We know that smoking and secondhand smoke exposure are harmful, but what about “thirdhand smoke”? This is a relatively new term used to describe the residual contamination from tobacco smoke that lingers in rooms long after smoking stops and remains on our clothes after we leave a smoky place. It may seem merely like an offensive smell, but it is also indicative of the presence of tobacco toxins.
Thirdhand smoke consists of the tobacco residue from cigarettes, cigars, and other tobacco products that is left behind after smoking and builds up on surfaces and furnishings. Tobacco smoke is composed of numerous types of gasses and particulate matter, including carcinogens and heavy metals, like arsenic, lead, and cyanide. Sticky, highly toxic particulates, like nicotine, can cling to walls and ceilings. Gases can be absorbed into carpets, draperies, and other upholsteries. A 2002 study found that these toxic brews can then reemit back into the air and recombine to form harmful compounds that remain at high levels long after smoking has stopped occurring.
There is a growing body of evidence that this lingering tobacco residue has significant health risks. People, especially children and hospitality industry workers, can have considerable exposure to it. As confirmed by the 2006 Surgeon General’s Report, there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke. And tobacco smoke toxins remain harmful even when breathed or ingested after the active smoking ends.
A study published in February 2010 found that thirdhand smoke causes the formation of carcinogens. The nicotine in tobacco smoke reacts with nitrous acid – a common component of indoor air – to form the hazardous carcinogens. Nicotine remains on surfaces for days and weeks, so the carcinogens continue to be created over time, which are then inhaled, absorbed or ingested.
Children of smokers are especially at risk of thirdhand smoke exposure and contamination because tobacco residue is noticeably present in dust throughout places where smoking has occurred. The homes, hair, clothes, and cars of smokers can have significant levels of thirdhand smoke contamination. Young children are particularly vulnerable, because they can ingest tobacco residue by putting their hands in their mouths after touching contaminated surfaces.
Awareness about thirdhand smoke is increasing, and it gained a great deal of attention in January 2009 when the journal Pediatrics published a study assessing people’s beliefs about the health effects of thirdhand smoke and children’s level of exposure to it. However, the report found there is much less awareness about thirdhand smoke exposure and its harm to children than there is awareness about the dangers of secondhand smoke.
The growing understanding of thirdhand smoke contamination reaffirms the need for more smokefree places and for avoiding exemptions in smokefree laws that permit smoking at private events in public places or in businesses during late evening hours; these kinds of provisions do not protect people’s health.
Parents, landlords, business owners and others need to be aware of the health risks of exposure to thirdhand smoke and recognize that eliminating smoking is the only way to protect against tobacco’s smoke contamination.
Spit Tobacco
- The exposure to nicotine from smokeless tobacco is similar in magnitude to nicotine exposure from cigarette smoking.
- The risk of mouth cancer is four times greater for a spit tobacco user. The chances of developing cancer are particularly high in areas of the mouth, where the tobacco is placed and held by the user. Cancer of the mouth can affect the lip, tongue, gums and cheek. (American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery, Inc., December, 199.)
- The risk of developing oral cancer for spit tobacco users ranges from 2-11 times that of nonusers. Only half of all oral cancer patients are alive five years after diagnosis. (Dental Oncology Education Program, Spit Tobacco Prevention Network Web Site Fact Page, 1999)
- Smokeless tobacco caused increased heart rate due to nicotine in the blood stream releasing hormones, such as adrenaline.(American Academy of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Inc., December 1991)