HAZARDS OF PASSIVE SMOKING

Breathing other people’s smoke is called pas- sive, involuntary or secondhand smoking. It is either from “side-stream” smoke from the burning tip of the cigarette or from the “mainstream” smoke ex- haled by the smoker. Many potentially toxic gases are present in higher concentrations in the sidestream smoke than the mainstream smoke and nearly 85% of the smoke in a room results from the sidestream smoke.1 In fact secondhand smoke is a major source of indoor air pollution. Non-smokers can get affected by breathing in cigarette smoke at home, at work, in bars and other smoky environments outside the home. Infants and children are espe- cially prone to passive smoking if their parents smoke.