Health Risks of Environmental Tobacco (Essay Sample)

Health Risks of Environmental Tobacco
Subject:
Name:
Institution:
Passive smoking is the act of inhaling tobacco smoke from the environment as opposed to inhaling it directly from a cigarette. Passive smokers can be anyone including the smoker himself who is exposed to the tobacco smoke emitted either from a cigarette or exhaled. There are a lot of toxic risks that are associated with passive smoking which is also referred to as second-hand smoke or environmental tobacco smoke and is known to comprise of two parts; the mainstream and side-stream smoke. The mainstream smoke is the smoke exhaled directly by a smoker while the side-stream smoke is emitted from the tip of a burning cigarette. Second hand smoke forms a major share of the smoke emitted from a cigarette considering that only 15% of the emitted smoke is inhaled directly by the cigarette smoker.
According to the Cancer Council of Australia, passive smoke affects children and adults in a different manner causing different diseases (The Cancer Council Australia, 2013). In adults it has been proven to cause heart disease, lung cancer and nose and eye irritation while in children it causes Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS or cot death), respiratory infections such as bronchitis, pneumonia and other lung infections. Asthma exacerbation, otitis media are also common diseases caused by passive smoking in children (Diclemente, et.al, 2009). Apart from the above mentioned, there are additional diseases that have been linked to passive smoking though no substantive evidence has been collected to confirm their cause as being second-hand smoke. These diseases include breast cancer, nasal sinus cancer, stroke, onset of asthma and pre-term delivery in adults while children are possibly exposed to brain cancer, onset of asthma, decreased lung function and lymphomas (Gershwin & Albertson, 2011).
Active smokers who smoke indoors pose a greater threat to passive smokers since tobacco smoke inside a room tends to hang midair instead of dispersing. After its release the smoke rises but cools very fast then starts descending which in turn creates a permanent low-lying smoke which is almost forcibly inhaled by other householders. The smoke contains about 7000 chemicals of which 50 are known to cause of cancer. Immediate toxic effects of tobacco smoke include eye irritation, sore throat, nausea, dizziness, cough and headache (Jeorgensen, 2007) which are caused by compounds such as ammonia, sulphur and formaldehyde contained in the cigarette smoke (Gershwin & Albertson, 2011). Individuals having respiratory diseases such as asthma also have the symptoms triggered/worsened when exposed to cigarette smoke.
Apart from adults and children, passive smoke also possess great health risks to expectant mothers and their unborn baby. Some of the health risks posed by cigarette smoke on pregnant mothers include:
* High risk of miscarriage and/or still birth.
* Increased levels of complications during childbirth.
* High risk of Sudden Unexpected Death in Infants (SUDI) and fatal sleep accidents.
* High risk levels of premature birth and low birth weight.
It should be acknowledged that similar risks are not only present expectant mothers who are passive smokers but also to pregnant women who smoke actively (Gershwin & Albertson, 2011).There are also reproductive health risks that are associated with passive smoking of which the passive smokers are exposed to the tobacco smoke mostly by their sexual partners. The reproductive problems that may arise due to passive smoking include reduced levels of fertility especially in women and high risks of impotence among middle age men. It has been proven that women who live with heavy smokers (people who smoke 20 or more cigarettes a day)have the chance of becoming pregnant reduced by 34% ...