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Secondhand Smoke

In an article about secondhand smoke by Dr. Claire McCarthy, McCarthy discusses how bad secondhand smoke really is and how people do not even realize how bad it truly is especially for young children. Secondhand smoke causes between 150,000 – 300,000 lung infections a year for young children and that leads to 7,500-15,000 hospitalizations a year. Secondhand smoke also increases the chance of SIDS, sudden infant death syndrome. Most people feel that if you don’t smoke then you will be fine but McCarthy writes , “Exposure to the actual smoke is the most dangerous. But more research is suggesting that the particles that get into things like hair, clothing and furniture (the particles that make people smell like cigarette smoke) are toxic as well. This means that smoking outside may not be enough to keep others safe.” Smoking is present everywhere and according to Dr. McCarthy the only safe place that you can guarantee not being exposed is not being around smoking at all.

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