3 truths about the toxicity of secondhand smoke! effects are harmful

 

Imagine you walk into a room with unlit cigarette butts thrown on the floor, on the coffee table, and several people in the room with a few in their mouths.

This is the all-too-common scene of us inhaling secondhand smoke.

But this cloud of smoke is only on the surface. What's going on behind the scenes is something you may never have thought of - the room is slowly releasing a kind of smoke that contains more than 7,000 chemicals, more than 70 of which are known carcinogens.

At the same dose, sidestream smoke may be more toxic than mainstream smoke, and 85% of the secondhand smoke we inhale is sidestream smoke.

When a person smokes, the smoke produced by the tobacco enters his mouth through the mouthpiece, which is the mainstream smoke; and at the end of the tobacco, the smoke released from the burning butt is the sidestream smoke.

Incomplete combustion of sidestream smoke, higher toxic gas content

Just like firewood. When well ventilated, the fire burns fully and the air is clear; but there is no ventilation, when the firewood is left to burn, all kinds of smoke, harmful gases ...... will come puffing and whistling, very choking.

Mainstream smoke is fully ventilated and can burn completely; while the sidestream smoke from static combustion, incomplete combustion, more toxic gases, more dense.

Image source: giphy.com

Many of the toxic gases in sidestream smoke are several times, or even dozens of times, higher than in mainstream smoke.

The American Cancer Society posted an article on its website saying that sidestream cigarettes contain higher levels of nicotine and harmful substances than mainstream cigarettes.

Even sidestream smoke is more carcinogenic than mainstream smoke at the same dose. In one study, mice exposed to sidestream smoke produced 2 to 6 times more skin tumors than mice treated with mainstream smoke.

It can be said that a minute longer and a higher dose of exposure to second-hand smoke is bringing you closer to cancer.

Sidestream smoke particles are small and can enter deeper into the lungs

Sidestream smoke releases less smoke, but the particles are smaller and more likely to enter deeper into the lungs, launching a direct attack on them.

What many people do not know is that e-cigarettes, which are considered safer, release even smaller particles of secondhand smoke.

E-cigarette aerosols contain far greater amounts of ultrafine particulate matter than regular tobacco and can enter deeper into the lungs - the distal airways and alveoli. If fine particulate matter enters the alveoli, it can directly affect the ventilation function of the lungs, leaving the organism vulnerable to a state of hypoxia .

In terms of the risk of particulate matter.

Secondhand smoke from e-cigarettes > Secondhand smoke from regular tobacco > Mainstream smoke

It can be said that every puff of secondhand smoke we inhale is a full-scale attack on the body.

But the dangers of this exposure are still being ignored.

When we inhale secondhand smoke for long periods of time, the respiratory system is collapsing across the board.

One-third of non-smokers exposed to secondhand smoke have structural changes in their lungs similar to those of smokers. And the more exposure, the more severe the damage.

There is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Even brief exposures can be harmful to both adults and children.

The best way to avoid secondhand smoke is to quit smoking.

I hope more people will send this to their family groups and start quitting smoking for the health of themselves, their family, and even their pets.