Second hand smoking do much harm to smokers than non-smokers.
There is a fallacy that people who smoke himself will not be affected by second-hand smoking. However it is not the case. Hong Kong University had just published a research result on the journal Pediatrics, stating that passive smoking not only influence the health of non-smoker, but also smokers. Researchers from the university’s school of public health said the study was the first to show that exposure to second-hand smoke was associated with increased risk of persistent respiratory symptoms among adolescent smokers.
The research targets were teenagers who smoked. Smoking is a kind of “social life” among teenagers, while we can see groups of youths gathering together in the playground and parks at night and smoke together. All the gathered teenagers become second-hand smokers, as they are all exposed to their peers’ smoke.
Not even teenagers are affected. There is a voice in the society that we should exclude the smoking ban on the restaurants with all the waiters smoke. But the research stated that even smokers themselves cannot resist the impact of second-hand smoke. This exclusion is meaningless as it will still put the waiters and customers in risk.
Here are some of the research results:
- Current smokers who were exposed to second-hand smoke at home for five to seven days a week were 77 per cent more likely to suffer from respiratory symptoms than those who were not exposed
- If teenagers often encountered passive smoking, the risk of suffering from persistent respiratory symptoms increased 12 per cent and 25.9 per cent respectively for non-smokers and current smokers.
Can you see how second-hand smoke ruined our lives? Therefore the smoking ban in town is good for our quality of life. From the information of Secretary for Food and Health Dr York Chow Yat-ngok, smokers in Hong Kong are decreasing. However, data shown that there is only slightly decline in youth and female smokers. So please support the action which encouraging the youth and female smokers to give up smoking hobby.
Source: Oct 21, 2009 SCMP , by Ng Yuk-hang