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The health risks of smoking
are not only limited to smokers only but also affects the
non-smokers around them who breathe in some of the cigarette
smoke. There are two sources of cigarette smoke.
1. Mainstream smoke,
which the smokers breathe in directly from the cigarette and
exhale out.
2. Side-stream smoke, which comes from the burning of the
cigarette between puffs and discarded cigarette butts.
Passive smoking refers
to breathing in of side-stream cigarette smoke from the environment.
Side-stream smoke is a far richer source of carcinogens than
mainstream smoke.
Reliable evidence confirms that passive smoking is a significant
health hazard. Prevention of passive smoking is most critical
for pregnant women and young children. A child at home with
a parent who smokes a packet of cigarette a day may inhale
one cigarette's worth of smoke particles and yet receive up
to 10 cigarettes' worth of carcinogens.
Why
do people smoke?
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