There is nothing more annoying and sickening than sitting down for a meal at the local restaurant, or any place for that matter and having the poisonous haze of cigarette smoke drift towards you. It moves in an ever-expanding mass to all corners of the room, being inhaled by all. Inhaled by a small innocent child through to an old man with emphysema who struggles to get enough oxygen from the now polluted air. This is passive smoking, and it has serious health effects on those who are victims of it.

Passive smoking is inhaled from two sources, side stream smoke, this is the smoke that is exhaled by the smoker and mainstream smoke, which comes from the burning tip of the cigarette. It is this mainstream smoke that is dangerous and toxic to our bodies, it contains over 4000 chemicals, 60 of which are known or suspected carcinogens.

Immediate effects of passive smoking could include eye irritation, headaches, coughing, sore throat, dizziness and nausea. People with asthma experience a significant decrease in lung functioning. In the long term passive smokers are at a greater risk to smoking related illnesses.

The Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health (SCOTH) concluded that passive smoking was a major cause of lung cancer and ischaemic heart disease. While in Children it was a cause of respiratory disease, cot death, middle ear disease and asthmatic attacks.

Almost half of all children in the UK are exposed to passive smoking at home; this increases their chance of developing a respiratory illness by 72%.

You have seen the facts, you know what passive smoking can do, imagine what the effects of direct smoking are. Non-smokers especially children need to be protected from this genocidal act. Innocent children in homes around the country are being killed by the ones who are meant to love them; if they really loved them they would not pollute the precious air that they breathe.