Passive smoking means that people who don't want to smoke have no choice but to inhale the smoke exhaled by others and the smoke emitted in the environment when cigarettes burn. Passive smoking is also called forced smoking, indirect smoking and secondhand smoke.
Because the toxic substances inhaled by passive smokers are several times to 50 times more than those inhaled by active smokers, they can invade the lungs and damage the inner wall cells of arteries, thus promoting atherosclerosis. In addition to lung cancer, it can also cause brain cancer, thyroid cancer, breast cancer and cervical cancer.
Passive smoking, also known as indirect smoking, refers to the process that non-smokers are exposed to the smoke environment caused by smokers and forced to inhale environmental tobacco smoke.
According to a research report in the United States, the relative risk of lung cancer of non-smokers living with smokers is 1.0 1, and that of non-smokers exposed to smoke in public places is 1.04, which shows that the risk of lung cancer of passive smoking has not increased significantly. Scientists generally believe that a relative risk of less than 2.0 means nothing.
Is passive smoking more harmful than active smoking?
This formulation itself is inappropriate. Smokers don't stop breathing when smoking, but also inhale environmental tobacco smoke. In other words, smokers not only smoke actively, but also smoke passively. If the harm is definitely greater than that of passive smokers, how can it be said that passive smokers are more harmful? This statement is obviously stealing the concept of environmental tobacco smoke, confusing environmental tobacco smoke with sidestream smoke, thus drawing wrong conclusions or subjectively exaggerating the harm of environmental tobacco smoke. As long as we understand the formation process of environmental tobacco smoke, this statement will be broken. If passive smokers can't stand the choking of smoke more than active smokers, that's true, because smokers are used to the smoky environment.
Scientific analysis of passive smoking
The problem of passive smoking has been raised for many years, and people are eager to really lift the veil of passive smoking. This first requires an objective and scientific attitude. It is unwilling for every rational person to add emotional factors to the research and publicity of this issue.
A fair view of passive smoking should not come from the initiative of any government or organization, but from strict scientific experiments. Analysis should be based on scientific methods. Nas of the American Academy of Sciences once said: "An idea that has not been fully proved by experiments is called a hypothesis ... When a hypothesis is still valid after repeated disproof, and other hypotheses cannot produce predicted results, this hypothesis becomes a theory that can explain the facts."
Some people in the Department of Environmental Science of Fujian Medical College have measured the related indicators of smokers and passive smokers. They measured the contents of carbon monoxide, thiocyanate ion and cotinine in the exhaled breath of 48 smokers and non-smokers, and made an experimental observation on 13 passive smokers. The results show that the above indexes of smokers are 4, 2 and 5 times that of non-smokers respectively. The carbon monoxide and cotinine in the exhaled breath of passive smokers did not increase significantly before and after the test, and the thiocyanate ion in urine did not change.
The study of passive smoking shows that the influence of environmental tobacco smoke on non-smokers exists. For example, cigarette smoke is irritating to people's eyes, nose and throat and can cause cough. But as far as the physiological indexes of respiratory function measurement are concerned, there is no obvious effect. A study conducted by Danish and British researchers shows that passive smoking will bring temporary discomfort to non-smokers, but it has no negative impact on health.
Secondhand smoke is more harmful.
American medical researchers recently published a research report that passive smoking, commonly known as "second-hand smoke", is more dangerous than previously known. Some women who live with smokers are six times more likely to develop lung cancer than ordinary people.
After examining the tissues of 65,438+006 women living with smokers in Missouri, this study found that women with a gene mutation called "GSTMI" or lacking this gene are 2.6 to 6 times more likely to develop lung cancer than the general population. At present, the gene "GSTMI" is considered to inactivate carcinogens in tobacco.
"Secondhand smoke" is more harmful than imagined. The researchers said that this study is a small-scale experiment and needs further confirmation and expansion. However, if this study is correct, the problem of environmental smoking is far more dangerous than previously known.
Lung cancer is considered as a civilized disease by the medical community, because its severity is constantly emerging with the progress of society. Since the 20th century, the incidence of lung cancer has greatly increased, and the growth rate is faster than other cancers. In the 1920s, there were only over 370 cases of lung cancer reported in the world, but by the 1950s, the number of people suffering from lung cancer in the United States alone was as high as 1830.
Prevention of lung cancer is better than cure.
The most common symptoms of lung cancer include long-term cough, even bloodshot sputum, and frequent chest feeling.
Uncomfortable, sultry, often accompanied by persistent cold symptoms or bronchitis, and even difficulty breathing.
Difficulties, etc.
Lung cancer metastasizes quickly, and the cure rate is worse than other cancers such as nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Treatment of lung cancer
Methods include surgical resection, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. About the prevention of lung cancer
The most sensible way is to stay away from cigarettes and smoke. At the same time, not only try not to smoke,
Don't let yourself get second-hand smoke, even in public places, try to avoid those who smoke.
Fog, avoid the harm of second-hand smoke.
Vitamin e reduces risk rate
Regarding the prevention of lung cancer, a report published by the National Cancer Institute of the United States a while ago said that one
Some foods rich in vitamin E can reduce the risk of lung cancer in smokers by 20%.
The researchers said that the study found that those with the highest vitamin E content in their blood had to put up with it.
The proportion of lung cancer has dropped. Those who smoke for the shortest time and have high levels of vitamin E in their blood,
The prevention effect is the best. But experts also pointed out that vitamin e, which has the function of preventing lung cancer, mainly comes from.
Food and whole wheat bread, not vitamin e supplements. Foods rich in vitamin e include hard food.
Fruits, green vegetables, beans, cereals, etc.
Tobacco harm is one of the most serious public health problems in the world today. At present, there are 1 1 100 million smokers in the world, and the annual death caused by tobacco is estimated to be1100,000. Every 10 second, one person dies from the harm of "cigarettes". How to reduce the harm of second-hand smoke is related to the health of smokers themselves and the sustainable and healthy development of social environment.
Smoke emitted by smoking can be divided into mainstream smoke (that is, smoke inhaled by smokers) and tributary smoke (that is, smoke emitted when tobacco is lit). Cigarettes contain more tobacco burning components than mainstream cigarettes. Among them, carbon monoxide and tributary flue gas are five times that of mainstream flue gas; Tar and nicotine are three times; Ammonia is 46 times; Nitramide is 50 times. According to calculation, in places with poor ventilation, the amount of cigarettes inhaled by non-smokers within 1 hour is equivalent to the average dose of 1 cigarette.
Non-smokers who smoke passively for more than 15 minutes every day are defined as passive smoking, also known as "forced smoking" or "indirect smoking". In daily life, most people can't completely avoid contact with smoke, so they become passive smokers. According to the results of the national smoking sampling survey, 39.75% of the 343,563 non-smokers were harmed by passive smoking. Passive smoking accounts for 67. 1% at home, 14.4% at work or other public places, and 18.96% at home and public places every day. The main places of passive smoking are family (7 1.2%) and public places (32.5%).
Passive smoking is especially harmful to infants, teenagers and women. For children, passive smoking can cause respiratory symptoms and diseases, affecting normal growth and development; For pregnant women, passive smoking can lead to stillbirth, miscarriage and low birth weight infants; Passive smoking also increases the risk of respiratory diseases, lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases in adults.
In addition, the problem of second-hand smoke may produce a series of "relationship crises". Smoking in the family environment and smoking in the office environment is likely to affect the harmony between people.
In order to let us all have a fresh living space. On the one hand, smokers should try to smoke fewer cigarettes with high tar content and try to control the quantity of cigarettes. Smokers and "second-hand smoke" should strengthen health care, such as taking more vitamin E supplements and doing more physical exercise. On the other hand, we should pay attention to smoking less in public places, especially in indoor spaces with poor ventilation conditions, so as to reduce the pollution to the breathing environment of ourselves and others. It is best to take active measures to eliminate or reduce air pollution in the environment where people smoke frequently, such as homes, offices and conference rooms. For example, put some green plants such as chlorophytum and ivy, or use air purification equipment. In addition, passive smokers should strengthen their awareness of rights and interests, make full use of the rights conferred by laws and regulations, and discourage smokers in indoor environments such as offices and families.
Harm of secondhand smoke
Secondhand smoke fills the surrounding environment with air containing many toxic substances.
In a full restaurant or living room, the pollution caused by second-hand smoke is six times higher than that caused by traffic jams on the road.
The number of deaths caused by secondhand smoke is 30 times that caused by all other forms of pollution.
Secondhand smoke makes eyes red, watery and itchy.
Secondhand smoke affects taste and smell.
Secondhand smoke can cause dyspnea, cough and asthma.
Secondhand smoke causes many deaths from respiratory infections and lung cancer every year.