Secondhand smokers

Biology Project: Secondhand smokers

The aim of this Biology project is to find out as much as possible about the secondhand smokers, the damages and the consequences of being one. Also it is about answer a question about if I agree or not with the new laws that ban smoking in my home. In the answer given to this questions I have to discuss some points like what would be the contributions and limitations of these laws, what would be the positive and negative outputs and if I think this would have an impact on our culture.

I think this project is very important because we are going to be able to know the damages in the second had smokers and if its proved that second hand smoke is more harmful than the smoke from cigarettes.

When a person smokes near you, and you inhale it, it is called second-hand smoke. Lots of people breathe it in without knowing it. Secondhand smoke is toxic. There are over 4000 chemicals; 200 are very dangerous and 60 are identified as carcinogens. When someone smokes a cigarette, just half of the smoke is inhaled and exhaled by the smoker and the other half floats in the air. This is causes Environmental Tabacco Smoke (ETS). [1]

The smoke also gives secondhand smokers a higher risk from having lung cancer (3000 nonsmokers die every year caused by ETS). Bladder, Crvical and Nasal sinus cavity cancer are also caused by ETS of the cigarette smoke. Some chemicals found in smoke become carcinogenic after they have come into contact with some enzymes found in the tissues of the body. [2]

As shown in annex 1 there are 45 million adults in the U.S. that smoke, and there are 126 million Americans exposed to secondhand smoke and they are secondhand smoke in their homes, public places, vehicles or workplaces. Around 22 million children in US are exposed to secondhand smoke.

About 22 million of children in the U.S, between 3-11 years, are exposed to secondhand smoke. Also about 25% of those between the age group of 3-11 years live with adults who smoke as compared to only 7 % of them with nonsmoking adults.

It is scientifically proved that secondhand smokers are more dangerous than first ones because the person that smokes the cigarette is inhaling through a filter and the filter traps the nicotine so it is less harmful. [3]

There is a new law that bans smoking in your own home, three quarters of people believe that smoking in houses with children should be banned (poll made by Developing Patient Partnership) “The only way for parents to protect their children from tobacco smoke is by making their homes entirely smoke free” says Deborah Arnott who is a doctor from a children’s hospital.[4]

In my personal opinion I agree with the new law that ban smoking in your own house but that is because my mom smokes and the smokes also bothers me because I can’t concentrate. I also think that my opinion would change if I smoked, because I would get used to the smoke so it would not bother me. The contribution of this law is that it keeps children safer, but the limitation would be that maybe the law is established but no one pays attention to it, so its like they have not established the law. I think this would have a negative impact in our culture because maybe the people start to rebel and they would keep smoking.

At the end I conclude that smoking should concern for anyone who breathes it in. It is a problem because it can cause cancer, bronchitis, emphysema and other diseases, that’s why it should be banned smoking in the house.

The areas of interaction that I used in this project were ATL (Approaches to Learning) because now I know things that at the beginning of this project I didn’t knew, like the amount of secondhand smokers died per year at the United States, also Health And Social Education because smoking cigarettes is bad for your health (not also the smokers but also the secondhand smokers that inhaled all the chemical compounds in the air) and Environment because the smoke of the firsthand smokers go to the air causing air pollution.

Annexes

1.

Bibliography

[1] Kevin Mathias, 2008. Passive Smoking.

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/passive-smoking-harmful-effects-second-hand-smoke.html

[2] Leo and Gloria Rosen, 2007. Secondhand Smoke.

http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/tobaccocancer/secondhand-smoke

[3] Priya Saxena, 2006 [Updated 2010]. Second-hand smoke, First-hand problem

http://www.rxpgnews.com/osteoporosis/Second-Hand_Smoke_First-Hand_Problem_4388_4388.shtml

[4] Does not says. 2009. Ban smoking in homes with child.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4114068.stm

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