Passive smoking

How do you define yourself?

Passive smoking is understood to be the involuntary inhalation of tobacco smoke in closed spaces, which comes from the pollution of the environment produced by the tobacco smoke consumed by smokers.

Although the total ban on smoking in many public places (such as public transport, hospitals and schools) has been a fact for years in our country, there is still legislation that allows smoking in other public places such as bars and restaurants and which are currently some of the main places where non-smokers are exposed to passive smoking.

Secondhand smoke - that is, smoke from smokers - contains nicotine and various carcinogens and toxins. The risk posed by this smoke inhaled by non-smokers should not be underestimated since there is evidence that it is more harmful than that inhaled by smokers themselves, due to the higher content of some oxidizing and carcinogenic substances, such as benzopyrenes, derived from the spontaneous combustion of the cigarette.

Who is affected?

Passive smoking affects non-smoking adults who live or carry out their usual activities in closed spaces where smoking is allowed, and especially children from smoking families. It is estimated that about 40% of children are regularly exposed to second-hand smoke in the home. 31% of deaths attributable to passive smoking correspond to children. Non-smoking waiters who work in catering establishments where smoking is allowed are a clear example of second-hand smokers with a high associated risk, as they are continuously and continuously exposed to secondhand smoke.

On the other hand, it seems that the risk associated with passive smoking depends more on continued exposure to tobacco smoke and the degree of individual susceptibility. Thus, children, pregnant women and the chronically ill are considered the most vulnerable or most at-risk population.

What are its consequences?

The main diseases that have been linked to involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke include lung cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, respiratory infections, cardiovascular diseases, problems in the fetus in pregnant women and other types of cancerous diseases such as tumors of the breast, bladder and larynx. It also causes other more immediate symptoms due to smoke exposure such as eye irritation, nasal irritation, cough, sneezing, throat discomfort, expectoration, choking and respiratory infections.

According to reports provided by the World Health Organization in its report "World Tobacco Epidemic 2009", it is considered that passive smoking is responsible for one in eight deaths related to tobacco, which presents a figure that reaches 600,000 deaths per year worldwide. On the other hand, the WHO also denounces the lack of completely smoke-free environments.

What measures are recommended?

Being aware of the problem and the health risks posed by passive smoking is essential to carry out adequate preventive measures. The only way to protect from the harmful effects of passive smoking, according to the WHO, is to promote completely smoke-free spaces. It is important to remember that there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke.

Intermediate measures such as separate or ventilated smoking areas do not appear to protect non-smokers from the effects of inhaling tobacco smoke. Ventilating smoking spaces only partially removes the chemicals in tobacco and takes considerable time to renew the air.

The recommended measures for non-smokers obviously include frequenting only public places of entertainment (bars, cafeterias, etc.) where smoking is prohibited. If the spouse or partner is a smoker, you should always try to smoke outside the home in open spaces, the risk of lung cancer in the non-smoking partner of a smoker increases considerably compared to the partner of a non-smoker.

Regarding children, it is important that the pediatrician who detects smoking parents explains the consequences on the child's health to motivate them about the need to stop smoking.

Thus, it is the job of the public administration to raise awareness of the problem, take the appropriate measures and that the right of the non-smoker prevails over the non-smoker.