The Dangers of Secondhand Smoke

　　Most people know that cigarette smoking is harmful to their health. Scientific research shows that it causes many kinds of diseases.

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　　However, Edward Gilson has lung cancer, and he has never smoked cigarettes. He lives with his wife，Evelyn，who has smoked about a pack of cigarettes a day throughout their marriage. The Gilsons have been married for 35 years.

　　No one knows for sure why Mr. Gilson has lung cancer. However，doctors believe that secondhand smoke may cause lung cancer in people who do not smoke because nonsmokers often breathe in the smoke from other people’s cigarettes. The US Environmental Protection Agency reports that about 53，000 people die in the United States each year as a result of exposure to secondhand smoke.

　　The smoke that comes from a lit cigarette contains many different poisonous chemicals. In the past, scientists did not think that these chemicals could harm a nonsmoker’s health.

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　　They discovered that even nonsmokers had unhealthy amounts of these toxic (有毒的) chemicals in their bodies.

　　For example，we cannot avoid secondhand smoke in restaurants，hotels and other public places. Even though many public places have nonsmoking areas，smoke flows in from the areas where smoking is permitted. It is even harder for children to avoid secondhand smoke. In the United States，nine million children under the age of five live in homes with at least one smoker.

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