It is no secret that cigarette smoking is a major contributor to mortality and will kill you. There were estimates taken in the 1990's for developed countries and it concluded that tobacco will cause about thirty percent of all deaths of those thirty five to sixty nine years of age, making it the largest single cause of premature death (Bolliger, 80). With one out of every five deaths resulting from cigarette smoking, it remains the most preventable cause of premature death for many Americans. However millions of Americans ignore the warnings and conciously decide to part-take in what they would call this "relaxing, soothing" activity. But what about those of us who choose not to smoke but are forced to breath in airborne tobacco smoke (or secondhand smoke) in resturants, bars, and other public areas where non-smoking policies are not yet enforced. There is growing evidence that exposure to secondhand smoke also referred to as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) represents a genuine health hazard for NONsmokers.
On the American Cancer Society's website, www.cancer.org, secondhand smoke is considered "a human carcinogen" (for those unfamiliar with the term carcinogen, it means a substance that causes cancer) for which no safe level of exposure, based on numerous scientific studies and reviews. ACS notes that four chemicals in secondhand smoke- benezene, 2-naphthylamine, 4-aminobiphenyl and polonium- 210, are known carinogens based on Environmental Protection Agency standards. As if four wasn't bad enough, the EPA classifies as many as ten other chemicalsin secondhand smoke as possible human carcinogens (Lightin' Up, 66). The EPA said it's reached it's conclusions regarding ETS's potential to act as a human carcinogen based on more than thirty human studies of both passive and active smoking.
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