Second hand smoke affects everyone that is around it. Especially children and the elderly who have a lower immune system. As many as 300,000 cases of pneumonia and bronchitis in infants each year is known to be caused by second hand smoke. Also, thousands of babies die each year when their mother did not quit smoking while pregnant. An infant’s chance of death at birth is increased by 50% when their mother smokes during pregnancy. Smoking while pregnant does the following things:
- Passes NNK, which is a very potent carcinogen to their child in the womb.
- Increases the chance of the children to become smokers themselves when they become older.
Breastfeeding while smoking passes harmful chemicals to your baby. The only way to make sure you are not harming a child due to your smoking is to quit. So you can see how smoking around others is potentially very dangerous, specifically children. Even if you decide to continue smoking, all I ask of you is to avoid doing it around children, or while you are pregnant.
