Secondhand tobacco smoke is a killer. Researchers from the University of Florida now say that 56 million Americans – more than half of American adults – have been exposed to secondhand smoke and most don’t even know it.
The University of Florida researchers came to this determination by analyzing a nationally representative survey of more than 13,000 American adults. This survey detected the byproduct of nicotine in the blood of 51% of the people checked. However, according to the researchers, less than half of the people with evidence of secondhand smoke exposure reported being exposed to smoke, leaving a large and previously unreported gap in awareness about secondhand smoke. And for some reason, African Americans were the least likely to know it.
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Secondhand smoke, also known as environmental tobacco smoke, is the smoke that comes from the burning end of a cigarette or cigar, as well as the smoke exhaled by smokers. It is a serious health hazard for everyone, including nonsmokers.
Secondhand smoke contains more than 7,000 chemicals, including hundreds that are known to be toxic and at least 69 that are known to cause cancer. Exposure to secondhand smoke can cause a variety of health problems, including heart disease, lung cancer, other cancer, respiratory problems and many more.
There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Even brief exposure can be harmful.
“It could be the case that for low-level exposure, maybe you don’t notice it. You’re in a public setting, and maybe you’re not even aware someone is using tobacco around you. Maybe it’s so minor you forgot,” said Jennifer LeLaurin, assistant professor of health outcomes and biomedical informatics at the University of Florida.
“There is no safe level of secondhand smoke exposure, and long term exposure can increase the risk of many chronic conditions, such as coronary heart disease, respiratory disease, and cancers,” added Ruixuan (Roxanne) Wang, a doctoral candidate in the College of Public Health and Health Professions at the University of Florida and the lead author of the new study.
The American Cancer Society says there are two different types of secondhand smoke. Mainstream smoke, which is the smoke exhaled by a person who smokes, and sidestream smoke, the smoke from the lighted end of a cigarette, pipe, or cigar, or tobacco burning in a hookah. This type of smoke has higher concentrations of nicotine and cancer-causing agents (carcinogens) than mainstream smoke.
The best way to protect yourself from secondhand smoke is to avoid it altogether. The American Cancer Society explained that the US Surgeon General has said that smoke-free workplace policies are the only way to prevent SHS exposure at work. Separating people who smoke from those who don’t, cleaning the air, and ventilating the building cannot prevent exposure if people still smoke inside the building. An extra bonus of workplace smoking restrictions, other than protecting those who don’t smoke, is that they may also encourage people who do to smoke less, or even quit.
