Video:

The 2006 Surgeon General’s Report, The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke, states that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. Because kids’ bodies are still growing and developing, inhaling the chemicals in secondhand smoke can be especially dangerous for kids.

According to the Surgeon General, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Cancer Society, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and other sources,

• Secondhand smoke contains at least 250 toxic chemicals, including over 50 that can cause cancer.

• Tobacco has been classified as a “Class A” carcinogen. Only 13 other substances, including asbestos, are considered as dangerous to human health.

• Secondhand smoke kills 60,000 nonsmokers in the US each year and is known to cause lung cancer, heart disease, nasal sinus cancer, and respiratory disease. Kids who breathe secondhand smoke are more likely to develop ear infections, allergies, bronchitis, and pneumonia. Children with asthma are especially at risk because breathing secondhand smoke can trigger an asthma attack.

• Among kids younger than 18 years of age, an estimated 22% are being exposed to secondhand smoke in their homes.

• The risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) doubles in homes with a smoking parent. Each year, about 10 deaths of Colorado infants are indirectly attributed to secondhand smoke exposure.

• A nonsmoker’s risk of lung cancer increases 30% when living with someone who smokes in the home. Secondhand smoke exposure causes about 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 22,700–69,600 heart disease deaths each year among adult nonsmokers in the US.

• A person standing 20 inches from a burning cigarette may breathe in 10 times more cancer-causing chemicals than the smoker. An hour spent in a smoke-filled room is equal to smoking one cigarette.