Do you live with someone who smokes? In Alberta in 2006, 9% of children and 12% of youth were regularly exposed to second-hand smoke at home.
Two-thirds of the smoke from a burning cigarette is not inhaled by the smoker but goes into the surrounding air. Second-hand smoke has twice as much nicotine and tar as the smoke that smokers inhale. It also has five times the carbon monoxide. Fifty of its 4,000 chemicals are known to cause cancer. That’s a recipe for bad health.
Children are at risk with second-hand smoke because their lungs are still developing. They can get bronchitis, pneumonia or tonsillitis. They can get middle ear infections. They can get asthma; if they already have asthma, it can get worse.
Babies who were regularly exposed to second-hand smoke before birth are at increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
Second-hand smoke also makes your hair and your clothes stink.
Quick facts
- 9% of Alberta children and 12% of Alberta youth are regularly exposed to second-hand smoke at home.
- Breathing second-hand smoke can make you cough and wheeze. It also exposes you to 4,000 chemicals, including 50 known to cause cancer.
- Second-hand smoke can cause bronchitis and pneumonia.
- Second-hand smoke can make asthma worse
- Second-hand smoke can cause ear infections.
- Second-hand smoke makes your hair and clothes stink.
