# If Second-Hand Cigarette Smoke is Just as Bad as Smoking... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 24, 2004, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-second-hand-cigarette-smoke-is-just-as-bad-as-smoking/265829 "2004-09-24T04:52:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-second-hand-cigarette-smoke-is-just-as-bad-as-smoking/265829/1 "2004-09-24T04:52:23Z")
…why don’t people get addicted to it? Think about it. I am not saying I’m in favor of people smoking. But concerning the alleged risks of second-hand smoke (alleged by articles like [this](http://www.zoot2.com/news/Jan03/smokesecond.asp) [just to use one at random] to be just as bad as smoking), I think it is odd people aren’t becoming addicted to it left and right. And as you can see in the article I cited at random, nicotine (the addictive substance in cigarettes) is just as common in the second-hand smoke. So what have I overlooked here? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-second-hand-cigarette-smoke-is-just-as-bad-as-smoking/265829/2 "2004-09-24T05:20:27Z")
The additctive agent (nicotene) may not be present in significant quantities in second hand smoke, but the carcinogenic agent(s) may be. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-second-hand-cigarette-smoke-is-just-as-bad-as-smoking/265829/3 "2004-09-24T05:25:56Z")
Hit submit accidentially soon… And I didn’t see in the article where it said both nicotene and the carcinogens were both present in second hand smoke. Can you point it out? ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-second-hand-cigarette-smoke-is-just-as-bad-as-smoking/265829/4 "2004-09-24T05:30:12Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > And I didn’t see in the article where it said both nicotene and the carcinogens were both present in second hand smoke. Can you point it out? > [@](#): > > The most serious dangers of second-hand smoke, however, are not the short-term irritations and hassles. Rather, they involve increased risk for long term illness, including heart disease, lung cancer, and stroke. **The drugs in tobacco smoke, such as nicotine** , carbon monoxide (the same nasty stuff that comes out of cars in the exhaust and is responsible for many deaths each year), and cyanide (used by Nazi soldiers in World War II death camps) **have an even deadlier effect on young children.** [Emphasis mine.] I assume they mean children are inhaling second-hand smoke, and not smoking themselves 🙂 . ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-second-hand-cigarette-smoke-is-just-as-bad-as-smoking/265829/5 "2004-09-24T06:14:40Z")
[http://www.straightdope.com/columns/000602.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/000602.html) ---
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-second-hand-cigarette-smoke-is-just-as-bad-as-smoking/265829/6 "2004-09-24T06:20:18Z")
Saying that second hand smoke is just as dangerous as first hand smoke, is ludicrous at best. It’s the zero-tolerance craze. Pollutants are unacceptable, no matter how miniscule their concentracion. I don’t really trust any of the studies on the effects of smoking. Half of them are conducted by the tobacco companies themselves. The other half are conducted by anti-smoking fanatics. If you have non partisan studies, they are welcome. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-second-hand-cigarette-smoke-is-just-as-bad-as-smoking/265829/7 "2004-09-24T08:53:13Z")
Okay…this is GD’s and I’m gonna just give my opinion on this matter bexause there really isn’t any positive proof AFAIK. I’ve never smoked cigarettes. I have on very rare occasions had one just for the hell of it. The nicotene in cigarette smoke fucks me up big time. My head start spinning and I get lightheaded. I don’t enjoy smoking cigarettes. I have dipped and chewed and do occasionally smoke cigars. When I drink I smoke. That’s it. But the nicotine levels in cigarette tobacco…especially Marlboro’s is especially high. Now, my point is this. I can’t stand to smoke one because of the effect it has on me. **BUT** I can be sitting in a bar or between people who are smoking cigarettes and the 2nd hand smoke DOES NOT do this to me. It will cause my eyes to burn and might make me cough sometimes but the nicotine isn’t there. At least not like when I inhale it directly from the cig. Now this might contradict whatever studies you want to cite but it’s the facts, at least in my own experience. The CO1 and whatever other carcinogens are in the second hand smoke that cause my eyes to water…sure that might be the lethal shit floating around the room BUT it ain’t the nicotine. and as always, YMMV 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![marky33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@marky33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marky33)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-second-hand-cigarette-smoke-is-just-as-bad-as-smoking/265829/8 "2004-09-24T09:10:19Z")
Could it also be the case that people who are regularly exposed to second-hand smoke may develop a slight craving but without having the habit itself, they do not associate that craving with smoking a cigarette and so do not instinctively know how to satisfy it - and thus dismiss it. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-second-hand-cigarette-smoke-is-just-as-bad-as-smoking/265829/9 "2004-09-24T09:51:52Z")
I agree that the article linked in the OP sounds pretty alarmist and some of its claims sound dubious, but I think the OP may have misread the key sentence: > [@](#): > > Second-hand smoke is just as deadly as smoke that is directly inhaled. That sounds to me like a perfectly true statement of fact. That is, AFAIK, the same ingredients are present in cigarette smoke whether it’s deliberately inhaled directly from the cigarette by the smoker or inadvertently breathed by a non-smoker sitting nearby. So yes, second-hand smoke presumably **is** “just as deadly” as the “first-hand” kind. What that sentence leaves out, though, is the fact that non-smokers are **breathing much less of that deadly smoke** than smokers are (at least, I think you’d pretty much have to be cheek to cheek with several smokers for quite a while to get as much smoke directly into your lungs as the average smoker does off one cigarette). That is why, although “second-hand smoke is just as deadly”, the average non-smoker’s **exposure** to second-hand smoke is, in fact, nowhere near as deadly as habitual smoking. The non-smokers just don’t absorb enough of it to get the same adverse health impact. (As the article points out, the impact is greater on infants and children, though, so smokers really should refrain from lighting up around the young’uns.) Deadly or not, second-hand smoke sure is an irritation and a nuisance, and I have wished for a long time that some clever inventor would come up with some kind of “smoke helmet” or “personal air cleaner” to enable smokers to keep their fumes to themselves. As far as I’m concerned they could smoke anywhere they damn pleased, as long as I didn’t have to breathe any of it. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-second-hand-cigarette-smoke-is-just-as-bad-as-smoking/265829/10 "2004-09-24T15:43:23Z")
> [@Jim B.](#): > > [Emphasis mine.] > > I assume they mean children are inhaling second-hand smoke, and not smoking themselves 🙂 . That’s a very unlcear paragraph and does not support the statement you made in the OP. In fact, the whole article has a very pop-science feel to it. I suggest doing some research on primary sources before coming to any conclusions. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-second-hand-cigarette-smoke-is-just-as-bad-as-smoking/265829/11 "2004-09-24T18:15:12Z")
> [@Jim B.](#): > > If Second-Hand Cigarette Smoke is Just as Bad as Smoking…why don’t people get addicted to it? Think about it. I’m thinking, I’m thinking! It still doesn’t make any damn sense! You seem to imply that something bad for you is inherently addictive. Has this been demonstrated conclusively? ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-second-hand-cigarette-smoke-is-just-as-bad-as-smoking/265829/12 "2004-09-24T23:22:35Z")
> [@scotandrsn](#): > > I’m thinking, I’m thinking! It still doesn’t make any damn sense! You seem to imply that something bad for you is inherently addictive. Has this been demonstrated conclusively? No, he is not implying that at all. As I see it, he was saying that if smoking first hand is so addicting and horrible, and if second hand smoking is perceived just as dangerous, as claimed by the second hand nuts, that it should have the same level of addictiveness. He’s basically trying to debunk how dangerous second hand smoking is. Carry on. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-second-hand-cigarette-smoke-is-just-as-bad-as-smoking/265829/13 "2004-09-24T23:37:01Z")
When a person smokes, they fill their lungs with smoke. Mass of smoke = A Volume of lungs = X Then Let Density of smoke in Lungs = A/X When exhaled, the smoke fills a section of a room. Volume Of Room Section = Y Then let Density of smoke in room section = A/Y But if Y\>X , and A is constant, then A/Y \< A/X So, if you breathe in a small portion of A/Y, how can it possibly be as dangerous as the smoke at denist A/X? 😕 So, second hand smoke **cannot** be as dangerous as smoking. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-second-hand-cigarette-smoke-is-just-as-bad-as-smoking/265829/14 "2004-09-24T23:51:28Z")
Does anyone claim that second hand smoke is as dangerous as the first hand kind? The OP is trying to argue that lack of addiction to second hand smoke is indicative that it’s not dangerous. That argument is a _non sequitur_. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-second-hand-cigarette-smoke-is-just-as-bad-as-smoking/265829/15 "2004-09-25T00:22:56Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > Does anyone claim that second hand smoke is as dangerous as the first hand kind? Some people have claimed that first hand smoke is NOT as dangerous as second hand… because it’s drawn in through the filter. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-second-hand-cigarette-smoke-is-just-as-bad-as-smoking/265829/16 "2004-09-25T02:43:10Z")
> [@t-keela](#): > > I’ve never smoked cigarettes. I have on very rare occasions had one just for the hell of it. The nicotene in cigarette smoke fucks me up big time. My head start spinning and I get lightheaded. I don’t enjoy smoking cigarettes. I have dipped and chewed and do occasionally smoke cigars. When I drink I smoke. That’s it. Heh. I’ve smoked for the hell of it too, about four times, but I’ve never felt any effects from nicotine. Either I was getting duds, or I’m missing some kind of smoking gene. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-second-hand-cigarette-smoke-is-just-as-bad-as-smoking/265829/17 "2004-09-25T03:43:09Z")
This is one painfully obvious thing that I have never heard anyone mention when someone claims that secondhand smoke puts others in as much danger as the smoker. The smoker gets second-hand smoke too as well as first-hand smoke. ---
**Author:** ![CheapBastid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@CheapBastid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheapBastid)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-second-hand-cigarette-smoke-is-just-as-bad-as-smoking/265829/18 "2004-09-25T06:50:31Z")
By [Joe Jackson](http://www.joejackson.com/smokingissue.htm) of all people. He covers 2[sup]nd[/sup] hand smoke in **(2)**. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-second-hand-cigarette-smoke-is-just-as-bad-as-smoking/265829/19 "2004-09-25T08:31:37Z")
Second hand smoke is an annoyance, but I don’t believe it has ever been proven to be a cause the sole cause of lung cancer, despite the wonderful, gruesome ads they show on television. And despite popular opinion, many people have died of lung cancer who have never smoked, or been around people who smoked. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2004, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-second-hand-cigarette-smoke-is-just-as-bad-as-smoking/265829/20 "2004-09-25T11:45:53Z")
How lethal is the smoke coming from fireplaces? How comes nobody is worried about children living in a house where a fireplace is used, probably inhalating deadly carcinogenics? How dangerous second hand smoke is compared to car exhausts (that certainly could be reduced by limiting unecessary car use) in cities? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-second-hand-cigarette-smoke-is-just-as-bad-as-smoking/265829.md?page=2)