Smoking Second hand smoke

Passive smoking

Second-hand smoke is dangerous, especially for children. The best way to protect loved ones is to quit smoking. At the very least, make sure you have a smokefree home and car.

When you smoke a cigarette (or roll-up, pipe or cigar), most of the smoke doesn’t go into your lungs, it goes into the air around you where anyone nearby can breathe it in.

Second-hand smoke is the smoke that you exhale plus the “side stream” smoke created by the lit end of your cigarette.

When friends and family breathe in your second-hand smoke – what we call passive smoking – it isn’t just unpleasant for them, it can damage their health too.

People who breathe in second-hand smoke regularly are more likely to get the same diseases as smokers, including lung cancer and heart disease.

Pregnant women exposed to passive smoke are more prone to premature birth and their baby is more at risk of low birthweight and sudden infant death syndrome (cot death).

And children who live in a smoky house are at higher risk of breathing problems, asthma, and allergies.