What is it?
It’s a mixture of smoke exhaled by a smoker and the smoke that comes from the end of a lit cigarette, cigar or pipe.
Who is a secondhand smoker?
A non-smoker who inhales secondhand smoke involuntarily.
How does secondhand smoke affect non-smokers?
First of all, it can be annoying. Secondly, it causes irritation to the non-smoker’s eyes, nose, lungs, which can cause itching and burning. The secondhand smoke pollutes the air and clings to the non-smokers clothes, hair and furniture, causing them to stink. Second hand smoke poses a more serious health threat. Did you realize that second-hand smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals and toxins including at least 60 carcinogens, which are cancer causing agents?
Why is secondhand so dangerous to a non-smoker?
Secondhand smoke is NOT filtered, therefore it contains higher concentrations of several toxic chemicals than smoke a smoker inhales through a filter, including twice the amount of tar and nicotine. A person’s risk of developing cancer from secondhand smoke exposure is about 100 times greater than from exposure to outdoor cancer-causing pollutants.
What should a smoker and non-smoker beware of?
Smokers are not only putting their own health at risk, they are endangering the people they care about most---their families and friends. Exposure to secondhand smoke is linked to a variety of smoking-related diseases to include nasal sinus infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia and asthma, cardiovascular disease and lung cancer. Also, children of smokers are more likely to have chest infections (bronchitis, pneumonia and asthma), decreased lung function and middle-ear infections.
How can secondhand smoke effect non-smoking pregnant women?

They are in particular danger from secondhand smoke because it is not only their health that is at risk but also the health of their unborn baby. The unborn baby receives toxins/poisons from the cigarette smoke through the placenta. Nicotine and carbon monoxide, chemicals that are in secondhand smoke, prevent the fetus from receiving the oxygen and nutrients needed to grow.
What are the risks of secondhand smoke to others in the house?
If someone smokes in just one room of your home, it takes more than three hours to remove nearly all the smoke from one cigarette. And the smoke left in the air is still dangerous. Its toxins and odors are absorbed into furniture, curtains, and clothes, exposing you and your family to pollutants long after a smoker has left. Did you realize that walls and doors cannot stop secondhand smoke? Smoke is too difficult to contain and home ventilation systems are not designed to remove it. Although a closed door may slow the smoke’s progress, as soon as the door is opened, it will spread throughout the house.
How can you protect yourself and your family and even your pets (secondhand smoke has been shown to increase the risk of lung cancer in dogs)?
    1. First of all, ask your family member or visitor to not smoke in your home. Don’t give up on your family member if you meet resistance, insist that he or she smoke outside, and away from you and other non-smokers.
    2. Make it easy on the smoker who has moved outside to smoke by having a chair, a table and ashtray on the porch or in the yard.
    3. Don’t keep ashtrays available for visitors, but do keep gum or mints on hand for an alternative to smoking.
    4. If a smoker insists on smoking indoors, choose one room for them to smoke in and increase ventilation in that room by opening windows or using exhaust fans.
    5. Make sure your whole house is well-ventilated.
    6. Encourage a smoker to modify their smoking and ultimately quit smoking altogether.
    7. Don’t allow babysitters, other caregivers, or others who work in your home to smoke in the house, vehicle or near your children.
    8. Refer smokers to their physician in order for them to recommend a cessation program.
If you smoke, get help in quitting. If you live with someone who smokes, encourage them to stop. The life you save may be that of someone you love ---or your own.

1407 N. University Dr., Suite B-2
Nacogdoches, Texas 75961
PRC Region 5
Phone: 936-569-7678
1-888-PRC-TEXX