Secondhand smoke
How Secondhand Cigarette Smoke Changes Your Genes
As if the growing number of smoking bans in restaurants, airplanes and other public places isn’t sending a strong enough message, researchers now have the first biological data confirming the health hazards of secondhand smoke. Scientists led by Dr. Ronald Crystal at Weill Cornell Medical College documented changes in genetic activity among nonsmokers triggered by [...]
Can secondhand smoke hurt kids’ grades?
Children and teenagers exposed to secondhand smoke at home may get poorer grades than their peers from smoke-free homes, a study of Hong Kong students suggests. Secondhand smoke is a well-known health threat to children, being linked to increased risks of asthma, as well as bronchitis, pneumonia and other respiratory infections. Studies have also found [...]
Second-hand smoke can double risk of fatal heart disease
The findings, which add to the growing body of evidence linking secondhand smoke to cardiovascular disease, came from a study by University College London of more then 13,000 people in England and Scotland. Researchers used a saliva test that can measure the amount of secondhand smoke people have been exposed to and followed the group [...]
New Zealand smokers exposed to more tar than Aussies
New Zealand smokers are exposed to much more nicotine from cigarettes than are Australians, possibly because of a preference for high-nicotine brands on this side of the Tasman. The results come from a tobacco industry study, which also found New Zealand smokers are exposed to the greatest average amount of tar out of 5703 smokers [...]
Secondhand Smoke and Mental Health
Smokers are known to suffer from high rates of depression and other mental health problems, and now a study reports that even people exposed to secondhand smoke are at significantly increased risk — and more likely to be hospitalized for mental illness. The study analyzed data from the Scottish Health Survey of 1998 and 2003, [...]
Can secondhand smoke make you crazy?
“Where there’s secondhand cigarette smoke,” reports Bruce Bower in Science News, “there’s emotional fire.” According to researchers at University College London, people exposed to large amounts of secondhand smoke — which is already linked to asthma, Sudden Infant Death Sydrome, and other conditions — are far more likely to develop psychiatric problems than those who [...]
Smoke-free air laws effective at protecting children from secondhand smoke
The children living in non-smoking homes in U.S. counties with smoke-free laws had 39% lower prevalence of cotinine in their blood, an indicator of tobacco smoke exposure, compared to those living in counties with no smoke-free laws. Children living in homes with smokers exhibited little or no benefit from the smoke-free laws. The study appears [...]
Secondhand smoke linked to psychiatric illness
It’s well-known that smoking and secondhand smoke are dangerous to our health, but are they also harmful to our mental health? A new study suggests they might be. The study in the Archives of General Psychiatry has drawn a link between secondhand smoke and psychological distress, as well as the risk of future hospitalization for [...]
Children pay the price of tobacco
Smoking is an expensive habit as a well as a dangerous one. I know; I smoke. At the last count (ie, yesterday evening) a packet of cigarettes cost €8.50. A shocking waste of money. But spare a thought for the children, many younger than nine, featured in Jenny Kleeman’s Unreported World programme. They labour for [...]
Another reason to stop smoking: Your pets’ health
Amid growing evidence that secondhand smoke is causing cancers and possibly a range of other health problems in pets, many groups are intensifying efforts to encourage people to stop smoking — if not for their own sake, then for their animals’. Veterinarians are redoubling efforts to warn smokers of the dangers to their pets, and [...]
How dangerous is second-hand smoke?
Though there’s no question second-hand smoke is dangerous, there’s no evidence to substantiate the “23 times,” which originated in a quote in a 1998 Rocky Mountain News article and was subsequently picked up by British journal Tobacco Control and an Ontario Medical Association report. The claim ended up in several other publications, including newspapers and [...]
Half of kids in Shanghai swimming in 2nd-hand smoke
SHANGHAI – Health experts in Shanghai are calling for more protection for young children as the latest research shows about half of the youngsters are suffering from secondhand smoke. About 45 percent of children suffer passive smoking in families, 50 percent in public places, and almost 6 percent on public transportation, shows a research released [...]
Call to ban smoking in cars
The dangers of exposing children to cigarette smoke were widely reported today. Many newspapers have focussed on a call for smoking to be banned in all vehicles, parks and play areas, as an extension of the current smoking ban. The news follows a report by the Tobacco Advisory Group of the Royal College of Physicians, [...]
Passive smoking is a major health hazard to children
Passive smoking in the home is a major hazard to the health of the millions of children in the UK who live with smokers. ‘Passive smoking and children’, a major new report launched today from the Tobacco Advisory Group of the Royal College of Physicians says that children are particularly vulnerable to passive smoke exposure, [...]
