Secondhand Smoke: Overview for Health Professionals

Secondhand smoke (SHS) is the combination of side-stream smoke (the smoke given off by the burning end of a tobacco product) and mainstream smoke (the smoke exhaled by the smoker). Exposure to SHS is also called involuntary or passive smoking. 

Breathing SHS increases the risk for heart disease, heart attack, stroke and lung cancer in adults, and lower respiratory tract infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia in children. SHS also increases the frequency of episodes and severity of symptoms in asthmatic children and is considered a risk factor for new cases of asthma in children. SHS also increases the risk of children getting eye and ear infections. Repeated visits to the doctor for such conditions may mean that children are being exposed to SHS. Exposure to secondhand smoke has also been identified as a risk factor for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Smoke-Free Homes

Eliminating Secondhand Smoke Is the Only Way to Protect Non-Smokers

It is important that your patients (tobacco users and non-tobacco users) understand:

  • Secondhand smoke is not safe.1 There is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke.
  • Exposure to secondhand smoke can causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke. More than 50,000 nonsmokers die each year in the U.S. from secondhand smoke exposure. 2
  • Even low levels of SHS can harm nonsmokers' health. Separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air, and ventilating buildings cannot eliminate the ill effects of SHS.2
  • Tobacco smoke contains more than 7.000 chemical components, and at least 70 of these are known to cause cancer. More are poisons. Nonsmokers breathing SHS are inhaling the same cancer-causing chemicals and toxins as smokers.3
  • 1

    California Environmental Protection Agency. Identification of Environmental Tobacco Smoke as a Toxic Air Contaminant. Executive Summary. June 2005.

  • 2a2b

    U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2006.

  • 3

    Office on Smoking and Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

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