What is passive smoking?
When someone involuntarily inhales tobacco smoke from the surrounding air, this is called passive smoking. The fact that there is cigarette smoke in the air at all and that it does not all “disappear” into the lungs of the active smoker is mainly due to the fact that, at up to 85 percent, a much larger proportion of the smoke is produced while no one is taking a drag on the cigarette but it is merely smoldering. This smoke is called “sidestream smoke. In addition, there is the smoke that the smoker exhales back into the ambient air.
The German Society for Pneumology and Respiratory Medicine (DGP) estimates that people who spend time in a smoke-filled room inhale as many pollutants per hour as if they had smoked a cigarette themselves.
Passive smoking: These are the consequences
Non-smokers often feel the first signs of how harmful secondhand smoke is after just a few minutes in a smoke-filled room: their eyes burn and their airways itch.
In the longer term, secondhand smoke increases the risk of
- Lung cancer
- Cancer in the nasal cavity
- Cancer in the sinuses
- breast cancer
- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
The cardiovascular system also suffers. More likely to be diseases such as:
- Heart attacks,
- strokes and
- coronary heart disease
Because secondhand smoke weakens the immune system, infections and respiratory diseases have an easier time. According to figures from the European Lung Foundation and the European Respiratory Society, more than 600,000 nonsmokers worldwide die each year as a result of secondhand smoke.
Secondhand smoke: Children and pregnant women particularly at risk
Cigarette smoke is already dangerous for the unborn child. Passive smoking by the mother during pregnancy increases the risk of
- Premature birth
- Developmental disorders
- pulmonary dysfunction and narrowed airways
- sudden infant death syndrome
Because children have a higher respiratory rate than adults and their body’s detoxification mechanisms do not yet work as efficiently, secondhand smoke negatively affects their health in many ways. For example, children who are forced to “smoke along” with others more often have
- Middle ear infections
- Bronchitis
- asthma and other respiratory diseases
There is also increasing evidence that children under the age of five who grow up in a smoky environment are more likely to develop leukemia (blood cancer) or a malignant tumor of the lymphatic system (lymphoma).
E-cigarette: Passive smoking also possible here?
When pollutant particles penetrate deeper into the lungs, they can impair their function or cause inflammation. For people with asthma who involuntarily vaporize with e-cigarettes, the toxins can trigger attacks and intensify the symptoms.
How can secondhand smoke be avoided?
The most effective measure against passive smoking is a consistent ban on smoking – especially in enclosed spaces: whether in restaurants, trains, the car or even in one’s own home.
It is ineffective to smoke with the window open, because some of the smoke always enters the room and gets trapped in curtains and carpets. The same applies to airing the room after smoking. In order to be guaranteed not to be forced to smoke passively, non-smokers have no choice but to stay away from smokers or places where people smoke.
