Up in Green Smoke: E-cigarettes Evade Pollution from Toxins Found in Traditional Cigarettes

When most people think of the harmful effects of smoking cigarettes, they typically only take into account the smoker. However, the deadly toxins evaded from secondhand smoke in cigarettes are just as deadly. A cleaner, safer alternative to smoking has millions questioning quitting the deadly habit, as well as benefiting those around them and the environment.

The Risks Associated with Secondhand Smoke

Secondhand smoke is similarly dangerous to non-smokers as it is to those inhaling the toxic carcinogens. Secondhand smoke delivers over 4,000 toxic substances to a passive smoker. Known as environmental tobacco smoke, the carcinogenic compounds and inhalation of the smoke hospitalizes approximately 15,000 children per year in the United States. The Environmental Protection Agency conducted numerous studies showing that secondhand smoke causes lung cancer in passive smokers. This passive smoking causes the death of over 3,000 lung cancer patients each year who have never smoked a cigarette day in their life.

The continuous exposure to secondhand smoke also heightens the risk of heart disease, especially in women. Children are especially more susceptible to secondhand smoke, because their bodies are still developing and have elevated breathing rates than adults. A household where the parents smoke around their children can trigger asthma symptoms that were nonexistent prior to the presence of secondhand smoke.  In infants, the risk of sudden infant death is heightened by secondhand smoke. Children under the age of six years are at an increased risk for respiratory problems such as pneumonia or bronchitis and ear infections.

The smoke that is projected from cigarette smokers increases the risk of cardiac disease by 30% and is held accountable for over 35,000 deaths in the United States each year. The government has made valuable efforts in preventing these deaths through reduced exposure programs such as the Clean Indoor Air Act. In California alone, a similar Act has been associated with saving the lives of over 59,000 non-smokers between 1989 and 1997, as well as a decrease in hospital admissions linked to acute myocardial infarction.

One would think that passive smokers have a very low chance of acquiring the same health problems as smokers.  While the dosage of smoke being delivered to non-smokers is 100 times less than what the smoker inhales, the health problems associated with smoking have similar diagnosis rates. The risk of heart disease in a smoker is 1.78 compared to 1.31 in a non-smoker that inhales cigarette smoke passively. These numbers are close in proximity.

A Cleaner Alternative

The toxins in traditional cigarettes are linked to millions of deaths globally on an annual basis. The secondhand smoke evaded from them also accounts for unnecessary deaths each year. While quitting smoking is one of the hardest habits to deter, a new product offers ease in the process. Electronic cigarettes, booming universally, are helping thousands of quit smoking. Beyond the beneficial health aspects to the smoker themselves (electronic cigarettes are a concoction of water vapor, nicotine and flavoring), the smoke evaded from them is purely water vapor. There are no toxic chemicals or compounds that harm passive smokers when they inhale.

By eliminating the 4,000 plus toxic compounds emitted from traditional cigarettes, electronic cigarettes are becoming more beneficial to a smoker’s and non-smoker’s health, as well as eliminating the pollution of the environment.