Smoke and Kids Secondhand smoke is defined as a mixture of the smoke given off by the burning end of a cigarette, pipe or cigar, and the smoke exhaled from the lungs of a smoker.
Children are the most susceptible to, and the innocent victims of, secondhand smoke.
Smoking, or frequenting establishments that permit smoking, means exposing your children to many of the 4,000 chemicals found in cigarette, pipe or cigar smoke. There are at least 43 chemicals in secondhand smoke known to cause cancer. Forty-three percent of U.S. children aged 2 months to 11 years live in homes with at least one smoker. What You Don't Know About Secondhand Smoke. Each year mothers who smoke at least 10 cigarettes a day can cause between 8,000 and 26,000 new cases of asthma among their children.