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Risks of Secondhand Smoke

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Risks of Secondhand Smoke People are always saying, “secondhand smoke kills” without knowing the real health dangers and whom it affects. Secondhand smoke is a leading health risk to nonsmokers due to harmful chemicals, risk of cancer, and other affects to children, teens, and adults. Secondhand smoke is an inhalation of pollutants in the air from tobacco products. I feel that nobody should be subjected to this, but sometimes minors don’t have a choice. Adults have the power to change this and hopefully after this they will consider their options. Hello, my name is Lucia and today I am going to discuss the health risk associated with secondhand smoke. There are 4,000 toxic chemicals in the smoke released from cigarettes alone. Approximately 40 of these chemicals are linked to cancer. Which means, every time someone lights up a cigarette they are more likely to have cancer, than someone who doesn’t. Some of the poisonous chemicals are: acetone, ammonia, formaldehyde, arsenic, and carbon monoxide, just to name a few. Acetone is known to be used in nail salons to remove artificial nails, ammonia is a strong chemical used for household cleaning, and formaldehyde is used for embalming corpses. Arsenic is a deadly poison, and is used as an ingredient in insecticides and other commercial poison. Carbon monoxide is tasteless, odorless, colorless, and an extremely poisonous gas. This is only five chemicals of the 4,000 deadly chemicals linked to secondhand smoke. There are several illnesses that result from secondhand smoke. Such as, heart disease, lung cancer, emphysema, and asthma. You can develop any of these just by being around a smoke filled environment. The longer you are around secondhand smoke, the greater the level of health risk you will have. Therefore, it is best to stay away from it as often as possible. Children have the greatest risk of being harmed by secondhand smoke. If a woman smokes during pregnancy, the unborn child has a higher risk of premature birth and sudden infant death syndrome. Children are more sensitive to secondhand smoke than adults. This leads to respiratory problems such as, bronchitis, upper respiratory infections, and asthma. If these become worse they could lead to hospitalization or even worse, death if not taken care of properly. As you consider the risks of secondhand smoke, please remember how much it affects other people. These risks are not only harmful to children, teens, and adults, but are also consumed with cancer causing agents that could be deadly. Think for a second, who are you prepared to live without?

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