What Is Sidestream Smoking?

The health effects of toxins and tar within cigarette smoke are well documented, but many assume the dangers lie mainly with smokers themselves. Reports from the U.S. Surgeon General, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and from a major U.S. tobacco company suggest multiple risks to nonsmokers by sidestream smoke.

• Sidestream smoke, the smoke eminating from the end of a lit cigarette, carries similar health risks to non-smokers that smokers face from directly inhaling cigarettes.

Sidestream Vs. Mainstream

• Sidestream smoke consists of the vapors formed from burning of tobacco and paper on the end of a lit cigarette. It is often referred to as secondhand smoke. A Philip Morris study deemed inhaled sidestream smoke a much as four times more toxic than mainstream smoke. Mainstream smoke is the smoke directly inhaled--typically through a cigarette filter--by smokers themselves. Thus, mainstream smoke primarily affects smokers while sidestream smoke impacts everyone within close or enclosed proximity of the lit cigarette. Sidestream smoke often goes through no filtration process prior to inhalation by nearby people.

Effects on Breathing and Heart

• The smoke emitted from burning cigarettes exposes the lungs of non-smokers to the same chemicals and potential illnesses experienced by tobacco users. The U.S. Surgeon General and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) both conclude sidestream smoke puts exposed adults and children at higher risk for increased frequency of respiratory symptoms and infections. Repeated exposure to toxins within cigarette smoke also are known to cause a breathing disease known as emphysema and places those exposed at higher risk for coronary heart disease. Smoking affects the heart by binding excessive carbon monoxide levels with red blood cells, depriving the body of oxygen and causing the heart to work harder.

Risks for Terminal Illness

• As far back as 1986, the U.S. Surgeon General deemed prolonged exposure to sidestream smoke capable of causing cancer in non-smokers. Eleven of 13 different epidimiological studies concluded a statistically significant relationship between secondhand smoke and higher risks of lung cancer, according to the CDC.

Benefits of Non-Smoking Policies

• Separation of smokers and nonsmokers in rooms or buildings--such as smoking and non-smoking sections in restaurants--may reduce the concentrations of sidestream smoke exposure, but the method is not a cure-all. And room or building ventilation will not abate the threat of secondhand smoke, according to the American Cancer Society. Rules against smoking within homes and workplaces spare innocent bystanders these effects. The only sure policy for health is a complete non-smoking policy.

Smoke-Free History and Trends

• Non-smoking policies began gaining steam in the 1970's with the adoption of policies to protect workers from sidestream smoke in public- and private-sector businesses and institutions. Since the 1980's an increasing number of local governments have adopted smoke-free ordinances. In recent years, state laws banning smoking in all enclosed public- and private-sector places in which people congregate have become more common. The CDC reports that public opinion polls show growing support for smoking bans throughout public places.