The National Council Against Smoking reports that tobacco smoke kills more than five million people every year – more than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined.
And you don’t have to be a smoker to be part of this statistic! Second-hand smoke accounts for one in eight tobacco-related deaths.
If you live with a smoker, if you sit in the smoking section of a restaurant, even if you’re in the same room as a lit cigarette — you’re at risk.
In 2009 the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that there is “no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke”. Creating 100% smoke-free environments would be the only way to protect people from the harmful effects of second-hand tobacco smoke. And this plan seems to be taking effect.
Just recently The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave seven million dollars to the American Cancer Society to lead and coordinate the newly established African Tobacco Control Consortium. With plans to implement advertising bans, raise tobacco tax, implement compulsory graphic warning labels and promote smoke- free environments, smokers are going to have a tough time keeping up the habit.
If this is not enough to scare you away from smoking and smokers, here are just some of the facts from the NCAS:
1. Second-hand smoke causes 600 000 premature deaths per year. There are more than 4000 chemicals in tobacco smoke, of which at least 250 are known to be harmful and more than 50 are known to cause cancer.
2. In adults, second-hand smoke causes serious cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including coronary heart disease and lung cancer. In infants, it causes sudden death. In pregnant women, it causes low birth weight.
3. Separate or ventilated smoking areas do not protect non-smokers from second-hand smoke. Second-hand smoke can spread from a smoking area to a non-smoking area, even if the doors between the two areas are closed and even if ventilation is provided. Only 100% smoke-free environments provide effective protection.
4. About 40% of all children are regularly exposed to second-hand smoke at home. 31 per cent of the deaths attributable to second-hand smoke occur in children.
5. Youths exposed to second-hand smoke at home are one-and-a-half to two times more likely to start smoking than those not exposed.
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