Hazard of Smoking

THE HAZARD OF SMOKING

Smoking increases the risk of many health problems, such as:

• lung cancer (most people who have lung cancer are smokers or people who live with smokers)
• other lung diseases, such as emphysema and asthma; colds and other respiratory infections more often
• other cancers such as cancer of the esophagus, mouth, cervix, or bladder
• heart or blood vessel disease, high blood pressure and stroke

Smoking affects pregnant women and their unborn children. If you smoke while you are pregnant:

• You have a greater risk of losing your baby during pregnancy.
• Your baby may have a low birth weight.
• Your baby may have trouble breathing at birth; as a child may have more respiratory infections, ear infections, asthma and attention-deficit disorder (ADHD)
• Your baby has a greater risk of dying from SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome).

What are the risks of smoking to nonsmokers?

Exposure to tobacco smoke is dangerous to children and other nonsmokers.

The term secondhand smoke is used for smoke breathed by nonsmokers. It is a mixture of the smoke given off by the burning end of a cigarette, pipe, or cigar and the smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers. Being near someone who is smoking is called passive smoking. If you are regularly around someone who smokes at least a few cigarettes a day, your risks of medical problems are similar to the increased risks for smokers. A nonsmoker in a very smoky room for 1 hour with several smokers inhales as many bad chemicals as someone who has smoked 10 or more cigarettes.