Editorial: Secondhand Smoking Sucks Butt by Abbey

What is secondhand smoke, one might ask? Great question. Secondhand smoke is smoke that comes from burning tobacco. The first form of secondhand smoke is the mainstream smoke, where the smoke is exhaled by the smoker. The second form of secondhand smoke is sidestream smoke where smoke comes from the lighted end of a cigarette, pipe, or cigar.

I think smoking in indoor and outdoor places should be banned. For example, there are outdoor diners and they allow people to smoke because it doesn’t matter because they’re outside anyways. We need to address secondhand smoke exposure beyond indoor places, especially to those that are adjacent to indoor areas. For example, when families go out to eat and they are aware of people smoking outdoors, they are grossed out from the smoke because it is near there food.

Even though we think of these as the same, they aren’t. Sidestream smoke has higher concentrations of cancer-causing agents (carcinogens) and is more toxic than mainstream smoke. And, it has smaller particles than mainstream smoke. These smaller particles make their way into the lungs and the body’s cells more easily.

When non-smokers are exposed to secondhand smoking it’s called involuntary smoking or passive smoking. Non-smokers who breathe in secondhand smoke take in nicotine and toxic chemicals by the same route smokers do. The more secondhand smoke you breathe, the higher the level of these harmful chemicals in your body.

Cigarette smoking is considered the leading preventable cause of disease and death in the United States, killing more than 480,000 Americans each year, according to the CDC. Smoking leads to cancer, and is also a factor in heart and metabolic diseases, which account for 40 percent of tobacco-related deaths, according to the U.S. Surgeon General’s report in 2014.

I personally don’t like secondhand smoking. I think we should eliminate smoking in indoor and outdoor spaces and that is the only way to fully protect nonsmokers from secondhand. Families, young teens, and workers can be exposed to secondhand smoke in public places, such as restaurants inside and also outside patios, shopping centers, farmers market, public transportation, schools, and even day care centers.