Ash Wales

For a Tobacco Free Wales

Dangers of Second Hand Smoke

What are the health dangers of second hand smoke?

A report in 1998 found that breathing second-hand smoke (passive smoking) increases the risk of the following:

Babies/Infants: Low birth weight and cot death
Children: Middle ear infection, asthma, bronchitis, pneumonia
Adults: Heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, nasal cancer
Even breathing second-hand smoke for short periods affects health. For example, being in a smoky room for 30 minutes reduces the blood flow to your heart muscle.

Everyone who breathes second-hand smoke is affected...

…and some people are especially vulnerable, including:

Angina sufferers
Asthma sufferers (many of which are children)
People who have suffered heart attacks or strokes
Pregnant women
Children

In This Section

Smoking & Health

A growing body of evidence suggests that smoking may cause male sexual impotence. Certain studies suggest that smokers are at least 50 per cent more likely to suffer from erectile dysfunction. It is estimated that in the UK, 120,000 men aged 30-50 years are impotent because of smoking. The effect is seen in men of all ages. One study of almost 4,500 men aged 31-49 years found that in smokers, the risk of impotence was 1.5 times that in non-smokers. Another study of men aged 40-70 years found that men who smoked were twice as likely as non-smokers to develop moderate or severe impotence.

Did You Know?

Five days after quitting most nicotine by-products have gone!

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Wales, a registered charity (Charity Number:1120834) and Company Limited by Guarantee (6030302)