The evidence is now indisputable that second-hand smoke is an alarming public health hazard, responsible for tens of thousands of premature deaths among non-smokers each year.
This was stated by Vice-Chancellor of the University of Health Sciences (UHS) Professor M.H. Mubbashar, while addressing a gathering, arranged by the Punjab chapter of National Alliance for Tobacco Control, in collaboration with UHS and World Health Organisation here on Monday.
Professor Mubbashar warned that measures like "no-smoking areas" did not provide adequate protection. "Smoke-free environments are the only approach that protects non-smokers from the dangers of second-hand smoke," he said. He further said that there was no safe level of second-hand smoke, and even brief exposure could cause harm, especially for people suffering from heart or respiratory diseases.
"For non-smoking adults, exposure raises the risk of heart disease by 25-30-percent and of cancer by 20-30-percent," he said. Professor Mubbashar said more needed to be done, particularly to protect children, and urged the parents, who smoked not only to quit, but also to move their smoking outside while trying to quit. "Make the home a smoke-free environment first," he said.
Speaking next, Shahzad Alam Khan of World Health Organisation said that about 200,000 people died every year because of second-hand smoke the world over. He stressed the need for raising awareness among public and opinion leaders about the hazards of second-hand smoking.
Nudrat S. Alvi of National Alliance for Tobacco Control said that in Punjab, nearly 38 percent of the total population smoked cigarettes whereas tobacco smoke reached more than 95 percent of the population. "This scenario demands all out efforts from those, who are in a position to contribute towards tobacco control," she said. She also called for sensitising educators, health professionals, legislators and general public on the issue of second-hand smoking and ensure their active participation in the efforts towards tobacco control.
Health professionals told Business Recorder that the children faced a higher risk than adults of the negative effects of second-hand smoke. "Not only is a child's body, still developing physically, but their breathing rate is faster than that of adults. "Adults breathe in and out approximately 14 to 18 times a minute, where new-borns can breathe as many as 60 times a minute.
Up until a child is about five years old, the respiratory rate is quite fast; usually between 20 and 60 breaths per minute," they said. According to them, second-hand smoke is a known preventable cause of low birth weight, which contributes to infant mortality and health complications into adulthood. Second-hand smoke exposure reduces the birth weight of infants of non-smoking mothers and contributes to additional reductions in birth weight among babies of smoking mothers.
They said non-smoking pregnant women, who were exposed to second-hand smoke, tend to give birth to infants, who had a reduced mean birth weight. "Infants whose mothers smoke are 50 percent more likely to be hospitalised with a respiratory infection during their first year when compared to infants with non-smoking mothers. Infants whose mothers smoke in the same room have a 56 percent higher risk of being hospitalised as compared to infants whose mothers smoke in a separate room.
"There is a 73 percent higher risk if mothers smoke while holding their infants and a 95 percent higher risk if mothers smoke while feeding their infants," they said. Further, they said the second-hand smoke could also affect the heart, as exposure to second-hand smoke hardened the arteries, a condition known as arteriosclerosis.
"Second-hand smoke exposure cause decreased lung function and asthma in children, but such exposure is also responsible for poor lung function and respiratory disease in adults. Men who report post-natal second-hand smoke exposure and women who report pre-natal exposure are more likely to have respiratory problems as adults," they added. They said second-hand tobacco smoke exposure raised adolescents' risk of metabolic syndrome - a disorder associated with excessive belly fat that increases one's chances of heart disease, stroke, and type II diabetes.
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