Smoking: Health Risk for Family Members

Overview

Most people know that smoking is not good for their health. But smoke from your cigarettes (secondhand smoke) also puts people around you at risk.

• Because of secondhand smoke, people who spend time with those who smoke have an increased risk of cancer and heart disease.
• Children of people who smoke are more likely to become smokers themselves.
• Children who breathe secondhand smoke:
  • Are more likely to have ear infections, pneumonia, and bronchitis in the first few years of life.
  • Have a higher risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

But you can change this. When you quit smoking, you reduce all of these risks for health problems in your family. You also increase the chance that your children will not smoke or will quit if they already smoke. So if you've ever thought about quitting, now you have one more good reason—for your family's and your friends' health.

Secondhand aerosol from vapes does not contain as much nicotine and other harmful chemicals as secondhand tobacco smoke does. But there is a concern about possible health risks from secondhand aerosol exposure.