[Health consequences of passive smoking]

Environmental tobacco smoking (ETS) represents a main risk factor for the generation of diseases of the respiratory tract and of the cardiovascular system in spite of opposite assertions. ETS enhances the risk of lung cancer by a factor of 2-3. New born and small children (< 2 years of life) are at high risk if they live within this period of time in a household together with a maternal more than fraternal smoking. Endothelial cells of the blood vessels were already damaged during the first month of life of passive smoking children, and these defects can be measured during the first decade of life. ETS over a period of more than ten years changes the intima/media ratio by enhancing the thickness of the vessel wall. In addition, poor health behaviour is seen in households of smokers because the behaviour of the parents is transferred to that of their children, and this behaviour is the starting point of further health risks and damages. The represented data should firstly lead to enhancing primary smoking prevention among children and young people, and secondly to organizing programs against ETS at the workplace and in public buildings and at last also in the private home. More than up to date, the non-smoker must be informed about the risks and damages of ETS.