Tobacco kills nearly six million people each year more than 600,000 of which are non-smokers, who die from breathing second-hand smoke only. Consequently, the World Health Organisation has launched this year on May 31 a campaign entitled "Ban Tobacco Advertising, Promotion and Sponsorship," marking World No Tobacco Day. According to Dr Magdi Badran, a fellow and consultant at the Paediatrics Immunology Institute of Postgraduate Childhood Studies at Ain Shams University, women smokers have a greater risk of ectopic pregnancy (a pregnancy outside the uterus) and miscarriage and delivering premature babies. Smokers are more likely to have pregnancy complications affecting the placenta, he noted. "Smokers are more likely to have a low birth weight baby. Babies born with a lower than average birth weight are at greater risk of infection and other health problems," according to Dr Badran. He stressed that the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is more likely in babies whose mothers smoked during pregnancy or after birth. According to statistics, over 1,000 babies in the US die each year because their moms smoked while pregnant. Second-hand smoke, also called passive, involuntary or environmental tobacco smoke, is the combination of smoke coming directly from a burning tobacco product and the waste gases exhaled by a smoker. Dr Badran mentioned that the mother inhales up to 7,000 chemical substances that are passed on to the baby through breast milk or by exhaling while smoking. Babies who are influenced by smoking are more likely to suffer from asthma and other respiratory infections. Nicotine in the blood of a pregnant woman exposed to second-hand smoke can decrease the blood flow to the unborn baby, he explains. This can affect the unborn baby's heart, lungs, digestive system and central nervous system. Otherwise carbon monoxide in smoke can affect the baby's growth and may lead to low birth weight. Symptoms of asthma in both adults and children include wheezing, coughing or difficulty breathing, all of which may be created by exposure to tobacco. Children with a tobacco allergy are also more susceptible to developing repeated respiratory infections, including pneumonia and bronchitis, Dr Badran noted. Otherwise damage to the respiratory system from cigarette smoking is slow, progressive and deadly, he added. Cilia are microscopic hair-like projections inside the lungs that cover most of our airways, they are crucial for the proper functioning of the lungs. The mucus produced by the respiratory tubules traps dirt and disease-causing organisms, which cilia sweep toward the mouth, where it can be eliminated, according to Dr Badran. Smoking greatly impairs this housekeeping. With time, the cilia become paralysed and, eventually, disappear altogether. The loss of cilia leads to the development of smoker's cough. The cilia no longer effectively remove mucus, so the individual must cough it up. Coughing is usually worse in the morning because mucus has accumulated during sleep, he mentioned.
