The University of Texas at Austin
College of Engineering
IGERT - Indoor Environmental Quality
A Healthy Home is in Your Hands

smoking

Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS)

chemicals found in ETS
Figure 1: Chemicals Commonly Found in ETS7

What is Environmental Tobacco Smoke?

Walk into a room with a smoker, and you've walked into a cloud of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). Also known as second-hand smoke, this cloud contains thousands of chemicals (Figure 1), many of which are toxic, cause cancer and exacerbate asthma.

 

 


What are the health risks of ETS?

Everybody knows that smoking around children is a bad idea, right? Well, not everyone, because more than 100 million children are still exposed to cigarette smoke every year, mostly from their family members1. Children are at most risk from mothers that smoke2. A major finding of the most recent Surgeons General report on second hand smoke is that there is no threshold of harm. This means that even small amounts of second-hand smoke can be harmful2. ETS is especially harmful for people with asthma, because it can trigger or worsen an asthma attack6.

  • ETS effects on children: Smoking around children is detrimental to their health in many ways. Pregnant women exposed to ETS are more likely to give birth to low-birth-weight infants. Infants exposed to second-hand smoke are at increased risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Children living in homes with smokers have more respiratory infections, ear problems, coughs, and wheeze more, and are more breathless. There is good evidence that second-hand smoke can also induce asthma in children2.

  • ETS effects on adults: Second hand smoke has been designated a "known human carcinogen" by the US Environmental Protection Agency3. Numerous epidemiological studies and meta-analyses (studies of studies) have concluded that exposure to second hand smoke increases your risk of lung cancer by about 20%. Whether you breathe in smoke at home or at work, you have a higher risk of lung cancer. Recent studies point to increased risk of breast cancer as well4. Second hand smoke can worsen heart disease as well. Adults who exposed to smoke (at home or work) are 25 to 30% more likely to develop coronary heart disease5.


How can I protect myself from ETS?

The easy solution is to avoid smokers and, if you smoke yourself, smoke outside and away from others to reduce their exposure. No buildings are sufficiently ventilated to protect occupants from cigarette smoke. This is, in part, why "smoking sections" are disappearing: in reality, "no-smoking sections" in a bar, restaurant or aircraft do not protect people. Smoke just gets everywhere. Even well-intentioned attempts to clean the air with portable or permanent air filtration systems will not be able to clean the air fast enough. Using ventilation can even make the situation worse by distributing smoke throughout a building. The only way to sufficiently protect occupants from tobacco smoke is to entirely eliminate smoking from in and near buildings.


Where can I get more information?

For more information on ETS and the associated health risks, contact:


References:

  1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The National Survey on Environmental Management of Asthma and Children's Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke (NSEMA/CEE) 2004. Fact sheet at http://www.epa.gov/smokefree/pdfs/survey_fact_sheet.pdf, accessed April 2008.
  2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General-Executive Summary. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Coordinating Center for Health Promotion, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, 2006. http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco, accessed April 2008.
  3. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Respiratory Health Effects of Passive Smoking: Lung Cancer and Other Disorders Washington, D.C. United States 1992.
  4. Johnson KC. Accumulating evidence on passive and active smoking and breast cancer risk. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CANCER. 117: 4, 619-628. 2005.
  5. Cal/EPA, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment Proposed Identification of Environmental Tobacco Smoke as a Toxic Air Contaminant Sacramento, California United States. 2005.
  6. Environmental Protection Agency (2008), Environmental Asthma Triggers: Secondhand Smoke, http://www.epa.gov/iaq/asthma/shs.html, accessed April 2008.
  7. Picture from Health Promotion North Staffordshire, http://www.hpns.nhs.uk/healthy-living/smoking-prevention/tips-and-advice.htm, accessed April 2008.

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