Americans’ Exposure to Secondhand Smoke Declines Significantly
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Zoonar/Thinkstock(ATLANTA) — Restrictive public laws enacted since the turn of the century and fewer people puffing cigarettes inside their homes have dramatically reduced the public’s exposure to deadly secondhand smoke.
However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that even with this reduction, exposure to smoke loaded with carcinogens is still responsible for 41,000 preventable deaths annually.
In a report issued Tuesday, the CDC says that the actual exposure of smoke fell to 25 percent in 2012 from 53 percent in 2000.
This is due in a large part to people taking their cigarettes outside, especially in large gathering places such as restaurants, bars, stadiums and the workplace because of laws that prohibit smoking.
The CDC says the number of homes that barred smoking indoors stood at 83 percent in 2011, up from 43 percent in 1993.
According to the CDC, African-Americans, the poor and children between the ages of three and eleven are exposed to secondhand smoke more than all other groups.
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