Passive smoking kills 600,000 people every year

Global WHO study: Passive smoking kills more than 600,000 people annually. Over five million people die each year from active smoking.

26.11.2010

According to international surveys by the World Health Organization (WHO), about 600,000 people die each year as a result of passive smoking. Smokers are aware of the dangers of cigarette smoke, but non-smokers are exposed to health hazards as well as smokers. In the public debate, the consequences for non-smokers are played down again and again. The new data from the WHO show that especially children are overly affected by the parents' cigarette consumption.

Over five million people die each year from cigarette consumption
According to a WHO study, around five million people die each year from cigarette smoke every year. Some 600,000 people are victims of the death toll, even though they were non-smokers themselves, but inhaled the harmful smoke of smokers. Particularly disturbing in this context are the effects of inadvertent inhalation of cigarette smoke in children. According to the study, about 165,000 children die from passive smoking each year. Children can escape the smoke of their parents if their parents smoke at home. According to a health study, 71 children are killed each year in Western industrialized countries because of their close social environment. Children can not escape the blue haze, because they still have too little opportunity to escape the harmful smoke. For the first time, WHO, in collaboration with the Swedish Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, produced a global study on the health effects of smoking and passive smoking.

Children are particularly hard hit
WHO scientists base their findings on data collected from a total of 192 countries. The data are from 2004. According to the analysis, in 2004, 40 percent of children worldwide, 33 male non-smokers and 35 percent of non-smokers were exposed to other people's tobacco consumption. The passive smoke killed nearly 379,000 people with heart disease such as heart attack, 165,000 respiratory diseases, 36,900 asthma and 21,400 people with lung cancer. According to the WHO, the deaths of passive smokers should be counted among the estimated 5.1 million smokers who die each year from the effects of the toxins. According to this, 40 percent of children and about one third of non-smoking adults are constantly surrounded by the dangerous cigarette smoke.

A serious difference between the death toll of adults in the rich industrialized countries and the poorer so-called „Third World“ the scientists could not determine. However, the experts could make a difference with the children. Especially in the developing countries of Africa and Asia, children are particularly at risk. According to study authors, this is due to the fact that in these regions respiratory infections and tobacco are serious „deadly combination“ form. Pollution and cigarette smoking are potentiating in a dangerous way. In light of these dramatic effects, health experts are urging the implementation of the WHO Conventions on Tobacco Control as soon as possible. Such measures include, for example, raising significantly higher tobacco taxes, adopting a total ban on advertising and more anti-smoking campaigns.

Non-smoking protection laws show first effects
In the course of the data analysis, the WHO experts found out that in the countries where non-smoking protection laws were enacted, positive effects must be clearly assessed. Non-smoking protection zones have been adopted in some European countries. For example, people are not allowed to smoke in public buildings, at work or in restaurants. The damage to health in these countries is much lower than in countries where such rules do not apply. The general smoking ban is particularly effective in pubs, restaurants and bars. Originally smoked in those very places especially. The ban was able to reduce the burden on non-smokers by a whopping 90 percent. The legislation also has a positive effect on smokers. You are also less exposed to smoke and smoke less automatically. In Germany, such regulations have been in force since 2007.

Non-smoking protection laws can lower spending in the healthcare system
But in the global context, such regulations are rarely met. Just 7.4 percent of the world's population benefit from the protection laws. All other people continue to be exposed to the toxic smoke everywhere. The policy must finally act, so the urgent demand of the WHO. The powerful of this world should keep in mind that the number of deaths can be significantly reduced if non-smoking laws are created. The experts suspect that these new regulations will be noticeable after just one year. The death rate can be lowered, and spending on social and health care systems is significantly reduced.

Especially children have to be protected from the health risks
The focus is on children at WHO. They can not resist and therefore need the protection of society. That is why WHO researchers are calling for further efforts in the fight against smoke. Parents must increasingly be informed that even passive smoking, especially in their own homes, causes great harm to the children. Smoking bans in public places can not prevent children from being exposed to harmful smoke every day. For this reason, new education campaigns should be launched constantly to protect the health of children. It would be best if parents stop smoking immediately. To raise the ambition to quit, significantly higher tobacco taxes are a good start. The evaluations of the study were published in the journal “The Lancet” released.

Indirect correlation barely studied
Numerous other health studies have already adopted the subject of passive smoking. For example, researchers at the German Center found that the risk of developing type II diabetes is significantly increased when people are constantly exposed to smoker cigarette smoke. An American study has also found that especially children are more likely to get a otitis media when they grow up in a smoker's household. It can be assumed that the consequences of passive smoking are much higher than those mentioned in the WHO report. It is usually difficult to prove that the illnesses were caused by co-smoking, because no direct connection is recognizable.

4000 toxins in a cigarette
If a cigarette is smoked, the embers produce a mainstream smoke at a temperature of about 950 degrees, releasing some 4,000 substances. A variety of substances are known to be carcinogenic or are at least suspected of triggering cancer. The sidestream smoke, so the smoke between two trains is considered to be even more dangerous, because by the slightly lower combustion temperature of the toxin content is even higher. For this reason, especially passive smokers are exposed to an increased risk to health. (Sb)

Also read:
Special form of lung cancer in smokers
Frequent middle ear infection by passive smoking?
Passive smoking increases the risk of diabetes