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• Prevention and Risk Factors

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Summary

Secondhand smoke is a mixture of the smoke that comes from the burning end of a cigarette, cigar, or pipe, and the smoke breathed out by the smoker. It contains more than 7,000 chemicals. Hundreds of those chemicals are toxic and about 70 can cause cancer.

Health effects of secondhand smoke include:

• Ear infections in children
• More frequent and severe asthma attacks in children
• Heart disease and lung cancer in adults who have never smoked

There is no safe amount of secondhand smoke. Even low levels of it can be harmful. The only way to fully protect nonsmokers from secondhand smoke is not to allow smoking indoors.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Start Here

• About Secondhand Smoke (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Health Risks of Secondhand Smoke (American Cancer Society) Also in Spanish
• Let's Make the Next Generation Tobacco-Free: Your Guide to the 50th Anniversary Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health (Department of Health and Human Services) - PDF
• Secondhand Smoke (National Cancer Institute, Tobacco Control Research Branch)
• Secondhand Smoke and Cancer (National Cancer Institute) Also in Spanish
• Secondhand Smoke and Electronic-Cigarette Aerosols (Environmental Protection Agency)
• Secondhand Smoke: What It Means to You (Surgeon General) - PDF

Prevention and Risk Factors

• BeTobaccoFree.gov (Department of Health and Human Services)

Related Issues

• Health Harms from Secondhand Smoke (Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids) - PDF
• Health Problems Caused by Secondhand Smoke (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• What is Thirdhand Smoke, and Why Is It a Concern? (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Statistics and Research

• Trends and Disparities in Secondhand Smoke (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Tobacco Smoke Pollution (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: In Utero/Childhood/ Adolescence Exposure to Tobacco Smoke and Elderly-Onset Cataract: A...
• Article: Association between second-hand smoke exposure and lung cancer risk in never-smokers:...
• Article: In utero, childhood, and adolescence tobacco smoke exposure, physical activity, and...
• Secondhand Smoke -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• American Cancer Society
• American Lung Association
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Also in Spanish
• National Cancer Institute Also in Spanish

Teenagers

• Secondhand Smoke (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Women

• How Smoking Harms Your Child (National Cancer Institute, Tobacco Control Research Branch)

Patient Handouts

• Smoking and asthma (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish