Treating Tobacco Use Disorder

Even if you’re not a smoker, exposure to smoke from tobacco products on a regular basis is dangerous, sometimes even life-threatening.

Here are the US Surgeon General’s conclusions about effects from inhaling secondhand smoke:

• Secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke.
• Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), acute respiratory infections, ear problems, and more severe asthma . Smoking by parents causes respiratory symptoms and slows lung growth in their children.
• Exposure of adults to secondhand smoke has immediate adverse effects on the cardiovascular system and causes coronary heart disease and lung cancer.
• The scientific evidence indicates that there is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke.
• Separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air, and ventilating buildings cannot eliminate exposure of nonsmokers to secondhand smoke. But eliminating smoking in indoor spaces fully protects nonsmokers from exposure to secondhand smoke.