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 Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 1:15 am
Taken from: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Health/20101126/secondhand-smoke-lancet-101126/
Around 40 per cent of children and one in three adults around the world are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke, a substance that kills more than 600,000 people every year, World Health Organization researchers say.
Those deaths are on top of the 5.1 million deaths that smoking itself causes every year.
The study, which appears in The Lancet medical journal, is the first to look at the global impact of secondhand smoking, and focused on 192 countries -- some with restrictions on smoking, and some with none at all.
Scientists concluded that "passive" smoking causes about 379,000 deaths from heart disease, 165,000 deaths from lower respiratory disease, 36,900 deaths from asthma and 21,400 deaths from lung cancer a year. Altogether, they account for about one per cent of the world's deaths.
"Two-thirds of these deaths occur in Africa and south Asia," the researchers, led by Armando Peruga, a program manager at the WHO's Tobacco-Free Initiative, wrote in their study.
The authors write that many of the children exposed to secondhand smoke also have to contend with infectious diseases, a combination they called "deadly."
They noted that kids whose parents smoke have a higher risk of sudden infant death syndrome, pneumonia, bronchitis and asthma. Their lungs may also grow more slowly than kids whose parents don't smoke.
Commenting on the findings in an accompanying editorial, Heather Wipfli and Jonathan Samet from the University of Southern California said families should be motivated to stop smoking in the home.
"In some countries, smoke-free homes are becoming the norm, but far from universally," they write.
To reach their findings, the WHO researchers looked at data dating back to 2004 and then used mathematical modeling to estimate deaths and the number of years lost of life in good health.
They found that worldwide, 40 per cent of children, 33 per cent of non-smoking men and 35 per cent non-smoking women were exposed to second-hand smoke in 2004.
The researchers also found that while there were more child deaths due to secondhand smoking in poor and middle-income countries, deaths in adults were spread across countries at all income levels.
Secondhand smoke appears to have its biggest impact on women, killing about 281,000. In many parts of the world, women are at least 50 per cent more likely to be exposed to secondhand smoke than men.
The researchers also noted that only 7.4 per cent of the world population currently lives in areas with smoke-free laws, yet even in those areas, laws are not always strongly enforced.
But in places where smoke-free rules are adhered to, exposure to secondhand smoke in high-risk places, such as bars and restaurants, can be cut by 90 per cent, and in general by 60 per cent, the researchers said.
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Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 4:20 pm
How about we just make Artificial Tobacco illegal then? Don't allow them to put anything in it...or better yet, make it illegal altogether! They can keep crying about second hand smoke deaths, but they can't do anything about it, except by preventing any more of the product from being made or just making it illegal.
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Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 4:33 pm
I wish they would make cigarettes illegal. It's pretty much murder anyway. My partner's mother moved in with us this summer, and she smokes. We don't let her smoke in the house, but the smell still clings to her. It's absolutely disgusting, and I leave the room whenever she enters it because not only is it repulsive, it's toxic.
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Posted: Sat Nov 27, 2010 4:45 pm
LorienLlewellyn I wish they would make cigarettes illegal. It's pretty much murder anyway. My partner's mother moved in with us this summer, and she smokes. We don't let her smoke in the house, but the smell still clings to her. It's absolutely disgusting, and I leave the room whenever she enters it because not only is it repulsive, it's toxic.
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Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 11:27 am
My parents were heavy smokers and I've been in a smoke-free home for a long time. I can't stand to go near smokers anymore. I get so sick and can't breathe. I really hate it when people insist upon smoking around my children because "I smoked around my kids and they're just fine." Either way, cigarettes are disgusting and should be illegal.
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Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 7:21 pm
Alarmingly Charming My parents were heavy smokers and I've been in a smoke-free home for a long time. I can't stand to go near smokers anymore. I get so sick and can't breathe. I really hate it when people insist upon smoking around my children because "I smoked around my kids and they're just fine." Either way, cigarettes are disgusting and should be illegal. Well, you can tell them this. "My Children are NOT your children! Therefore, you can't smoke near my children!" Now, of course if your in a public space or on their property, you couldn't necessarily say that.
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Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 8:03 pm
Uh.. I'm pretty sure there's been proof that second hand smoke it bad for at LEAST 20 years. D:
I don't understand why people smoke around children.. here it's really common since we get really cold winters so people don't want to go outside.. so they smoke in the house.. their parents smoked around them so it's alright to smoke around their children.. keep the cycle of bad education going! It also doesn't help that a lot of people have the "what doesn't give you cancer these days" attitude.
Either way.. if you have children.. do not smoke in the car with them, do not smoke in the house with them.. try to stop smoking period since children like to mimic mommy and daddy!
When I have children I plan on never taking them to someones house who smokes.. since even if I'm stressed and need a day to myself.. I'd rather not hurt their little lungs.
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Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 8:19 pm
Yeah, it drives me crazy when people smoke around kids or pregnant women. It drives me crazy when parents smoke at all, even if they don't do it around their kids. A lot of parents think that smoking outside fixes everything. But studies are showing that third-hand smoke (the smell and toxins that cling to your hair, clothes, or car seats and stick around long after you're done with your cigarette) is really bad too. So unless they go outside to smoke then shower and change into fresh clothes before going anywhere near anyone else, they're literally a contagious walking toxic waste dump. And even then, they're still polluting the air outside. It's pure selfishness.
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Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 10:14 pm
Well, nicotine is a drug. And for some people it can be really addictive (though I know for others it can be easy or easier to quit).
I think here (BC, Canada) it's now illegal to smoke in a vehicle with children in it. I don't remember if it applies to the rest of the country or not.
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Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2010 10:53 pm
Sure as hell isn't illegal in Saskatchewan.. or at least it isn't enforced.
I just think smoking while you have young children is a bad idea period.. yes it's addictive.. but at least TRY to quit.
What's even worse is the people who use their welfare money to buy a carton of smokes then feed their children instant noodles and kool aid. D:
I can't stand people like that.. one of my friends needed money for diapers for her kid.. so her brother gave her money.. she bought smokes and diapers.. if she didn't smoke a pack a day she wouldn't be broke and would be able to buy her own damn kid diapers.
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 6:35 am
If someone started smoking 50 years ago before we fully knew the consequences, fine. But we've known that cigarettes are bad and addictive for at least 20 years now. So anyone who started smoking in the last 20 years or so can't really say, "It's not my fault, I'm addicted," because they chose to get addicted.
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 12:06 pm
I can both agree and disagree with that. wink So I'll just keep quiet.
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Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 10:43 pm
A lot of people don't think about it being addictive though when they start smoking.. or they think that it won't happen to them.
For some people quitting smoking is a pain in the a**.. they will try and try to quit.. and it just won't happen because they are so addicted.
We all know drunk driving is bad.. but people still do that. D:
It's one of those things.. that even though we know that it's bad.. people are still going to do it.
Personally though.. if you are really addicted to cigarettes and you are around children.. chew the gum with nicotine in it.. that way you are still getting the drug into your body, but you aren't harming the people around you.
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Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 11:08 pm
Intoxikace A lot of people don't think about it being addictive though when they start smoking.. or they think that it won't happen to them.
For some people quitting smoking is a pain in the a**.. they will try and try to quit.. and it just won't happen because they are so addicted.
We all know drunk driving is bad.. but people still do that. D:
It's one of those things.. that even though we know that it's bad.. people are still going to do it.
Personally though.. if you are really addicted to cigarettes and you are around children.. chew the gum with nicotine in it.. that way you are still getting the drug into your body, but you aren't harming the people around you. That's pretty much my line of thinking. A lot of young people (kids, teens, young adults) start smoking without thinking they'll get addicted, or without thinking about the later side effects. In a former university I took part in a study that was aimed at 'stop smoking' ads for teens, and a couple of the smoking teens who participated said that they (teens) didn't really think of the long-term effects - they had a hard time thinking that far down the line concretely. Pretty much what you said. And yes, I totally agree with you on the nicotine gum.
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