The Hazards of Second Hand Smoke

Lung cancer has dominated the news this week. First, Peter Jennings lost his short battle with lung cancer this past Sunday, and now we hear that Dana Reeve, Christopher Reeve's widow has lung cancer. She never smoked a day in her life, so how did she get lung cancer? While the answer to that is unknown, it's possible that exposure to second hand smoke may have played a part.

Second hand smoke is a toxic cocktail consisting of poisons and carcinogens. There are over 4000 chemical compounds in secondhand smoke; 200 of which are known to be poisonous, and upwards of 60 have been identified as carcinogens.