Secondhand smoke is simply other people’s tobacco smoke. Wherever people smoke, there is secondhand smoke in the air. Breathing in secondhand smoke is sometimes called passive smoking.

• Side stream smoke – smoke from the tip of the cigarette.
• Mainstream smoke – smoke that is breathed back out by the smoker.

Secondhand smoke hangs around for ages and most of it is invisible and odourless. Even if you open up the windows it will still be in a room after two and a half hours! Even if you can’t see or smell any smoke, it’s probably still there. Smoking in a car is even worse because all of the smoke is concentrated into a small space.

Non-smokers who breathe in secondhand smoke are at risk of the same diseases as smokers, including cancer and heart disease!

Secondhand smoke contains 4,000 toxic chemicals and it is estimated that it causes thousands of deaths each year. Children are particularly affected by secondhand smoke because their bodies are still developing. But around half of all British children are growing up in homes where at least one parent is a smoker.

Via gosmokefree.co.uk