The organs in the human body all work together to keep the body healthy and running properly. Many foreign substances and materials can hinder the ability of these organs to do their job. Cigarette smoke, for instance, has been shown to cause serious harm to the lungs, whether it is first hand or second hand. Not only can smokers become ill with lung cancer, emphysema, or other sickness due to smoking, but non-smokers can also become sick. A writer named David Sedaris composed an essay stating that he is a smoker and is fed up with nonsmokers telling him where he can and can not light up. He said he can deal with the threat of cancer or other disease. Mr. Sedaris does not understand that just because he can accept the possible consequences of smoking, others can not. Inhaling another person's cigarette, cigar, or pipe smoke has proven adverse effects on health and needs to be controlled.
The National Cancer Institute states that:.
Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS), also called "secondhand smoke" is the combination of two forms of smoke from burning tobacco products: Sidestream smoke, or smoke that is emitted between the puffs of a burning cigarette, pipe, or cigar and mainstream smoke, or the smoke that is exhaled by the smoker. (Environmental Tobacco ).
These two forms of smoke have been documented and proven to cause illnesses in non-smokers. Obviously, the only way a non-smoker can receive smoking illnesses is by inhaling cigarette smoke emitted from someone who smokes. In his essay, Sedaris talks about sitting next to a lady on a bench while he lights a cigarette and how she waves her arms and asks him to put it out. Sedaris did not enjoy her reaction, but she has a reason for it. According to a study by the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute: .
ETS is so harmful that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classi- fied it as a "Group A" carcinogen 1.
