Secondhand smoke (SHS), known also as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), is both the smoke given off by the burning end of cigarettes, cigars, or pipes and the smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers that is inhaled by nonsmokers.

Secondhand smoke contains a complex mixture of more than 4,000 chemicals, more than 50 of which are cancer-causing agents (carcinogens).

Secondhand smoke is classified as a Group A carcinogen, which means it causes cancer in humans.

Children and adolescents with at least one smoking parent have a 25 to 40% increased risk of chronic respiratory symptoms such as cough, wheeze and breathlessness.

Secondhand smoke is estimated to cause 3,000 lung cancer deaths in nonsmokers each year.

Exposure to secondhand smoke has been linked to an increased risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Approximately 53,000 non-smoking Americans die from secondhand smoke each year.

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