Explanation.
Smoking is one of the leading causes of preventable deaths in the United States, and doing it in public is even worse because smokers not only harm themselves, but also those around them. Though many smokers already know the health risks that come with smoking cigarettes, most do not know how second hand smoke can affect other people. Breathing in low doses of second hand smoke can increase a person's risk of heart attacks according to a study by Dr. Meyers, a professor of Cardiology and Preventatives Medicine at University of Kansas (Sciendaily.com). When someone smokes a cigarette, most of the smoke does not go into their lungs, it goes into the air, where anyone nearby can breathe it. Smoking is banned in many public places, but many people are still exposed to secondhand smoke, including children who live with their parents who smoke. Even if the individual smokes outside, the smoke still remains on clothing and children can inhale it that way. Secondhand smoke can come from a cigarette, cigar or pipe. It has more than 4,000 chemical compounds and at least 250 are known to cause disease (webmd.com, 2005).
The effects of smoking and second hand smoking include increased risk of heart disease, cancer, emphysema, and other diseases. "Cigarette smoke accounts for at least 30 percent of all cancer deaths. Smoking accounts for 87 percent of lung cancer deaths in men and 70 percent in women. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and women, and is one of the hardest cancers to treat" (cancer.org, 2014). Smoking can also decrease blood flow, cause asthma and pneumonia to worsen. In females, smoking can damage the reproductive system and reduce fertility. The disease caused from smoking are enormous and the effects of smoking shorten an individuals' life span. Shortness of breath, chest pain, wheezing, chronic bronchitis, masses and tumors are also caused from smoking.