Secondhand smoke

Health risks of secondhand smoke

In reviewing the evidence of the health risks from secondhand smoke, the Government’s independent Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health (SCOTH) concluded that exposure to secondhand smoke causes a range of serious medical conditions, including:

• lung cancer
• heart disease
• asthma attacks
• childhood respiratory disease
• sudden infant death syndrome
• reduced lung function

Tobacco smoke is a known human carcinogen.

What is secondhand smoke?

Secondhand smoke is simply other people’s tobacco smoke and is also known as passive smoke or ‘environmental’ tobacco smoke.

Secondhand smoke consists of side stream smoke from the burning tip of the cigarette, and mainstream smoke exhaled by the smoker.

Side stream smoke typically makes up nearly 85% of the smoke in a smoky environment. This type of smoke contains a much higher concentration of toxins, such as hydrogen cyanide, ammonia, carbon monoxide and acrolein, than mainstream smoke.

Secondhand smoke contains a cocktail of over 4,000 different chemicals, many of which are toxic and harmful including more than 50 known carcinogens such as benzo(a)pyrene, chromium, vinyl chloride, and benzene.