Post # 17: Second Hand Smoke

Bear with me for a few moments, and picture this:  While you and your new neighbor are having a get-acquainted conversation, and she indicates that  her spouse and  their children are regularly  exposed to thousands of air borne chemicals including cyanide, butane, formaldehyde, ammonia, and carbon monoxide, just to name a few.  As a result, her children are prone to severe asthma attacks and ear infections, her spouse is at risk of  stroke, heart disease, cancer and  a host of other debilitating and potentially fatal conditions. In fact, her children were exposed while she was pregnant! And while she has been deliberately exposing herself to these conditions, her family is, to borrow a phrase, collateral damage.

By this time, no doubt you are slowly backing away,  picturing that she is seriously mentally ill,  has lived near a  toxic waste dump or enormous factory, is herself a serial killer, or a host of other scenarios resulting in fatal outcomes, massive lawsuits, etc.  "How can this happen in our country?", you ask.  Actually, your new friend didn't have to say a word to convey this awful scenario - she just lit up a cigarette.

Indulge me again and have a look at the following statistics. Each year in the United States, second hand smoke or SHS is responsible for:

46,000 deaths from current non-smokers
3,400 deaths from lung cancer in non-smoking adults
1,000,000 asthmatic children experiencing worsening asthma and asthma-related problems
150,000 to 300,000 cases of lower respiratory tract infections in children < 18 month of age
7,000 to 15, 000 hospital admissions per year in children
42% increased risk of stroke for the spouse of a smoker
increased risk of low birth weight and SIDS


http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/CancerCauses/TobaccoCancer/secondhand-smoke

More to follow......

By: Martha J. Powell, RRT, CEO
Strategic Medical Sales, LLC