Second Hand Smoke: Is it as Dangerous as They Say?

You may be wondering why we are looking at smokers anyway since this article is not about first hand smoke. The reason will be revealed at the conclusion of this article. So if we reduce the life expectancy of the average smoker to the mid-fifties (a reasonable assumption) and 75 is the average age of a normal human life span in these modern times (give or take a year or two depending on sex), we see that smoking takes 20 years off your life.

Now if smoking reduces your life expectancy by twenty years, and direct inhalation is more harmful to you than second hand smoke (the smoker, along with the cigarette's filter, take much of the harmful ingredients out of the cigarette before it enters the air), it leads you to question how harmful second hand smoke really is.

If you, as a non smoker, inhale second hand smoke at the same rate as a smoker, you will reduce you life expectancy by 20 years. But as you are more likely to inhale substantially less (unless you work in a bar or other highly concentrated smoking area) you life expectancy increases. If you inhale 50 percent less noxious smoke than a smoker you add 10 years to your life, 25 percent less, you add 15 years and so on.

Many people will argue that non smokers are harmed by sidestream smoke which is true; but it is also true for the smoker as he is breathing the same air. Therefore it is included in the smoker's life expectancy making the argument irrelevant in this exercise.

Second hand smoke harms everyone who comes into contact with it, but is it a death epidemic as the commercials from various special interest groups like to make it? Of course not! It is more than likely that you life span will be reduced if you come into regular contact with second hand smoke. But is dying at 70 instead of 75 really deserve the attention it is getting when you can't eat fish because of the mercury, can't jog in many metropolitan areas because of the smog, and can't have sex with another human being without a condom for fear of death? I think not! But of course this writer is not 70 years of age yet.

Definitions
Second hand smoke - second hand smoke is the smoke inhaled by a person from air either from a smoker after he exhales or directly from a burning cigarette. Therefore it easy to deduce that first hand smoke is the direct inhalation of smoke from a burning cigarette.

Mainstream smoke - is the smoke from a lit cigarette that enters the air after being exhaled from a smoker's lungs.

Sidestream smoke - is the smoke that enters the air directly from a burning cigarette.

Second Hand Smoke - Page 1

Article by:
FS Staff

Disclaimer: Firstly, the writer of this article is no way educated in medicine. His opinion is just that, an opinion. The writer is also not an accredited physician, nurse or health care professional and will never claim to be.

Secondly, the writer of this article does not work in any capacity with the tobacco industry. He smoked for 22 years and has been a non-smoker for three years at the time of the writing of this article (in early 2007).

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