The figures, mainly communicated by the World Health Organization (WHO), reveal that one in 100 deaths is attributable to passive smoking in the world, that is to say more than 600,000 deaths all populations combined. In total, 165,000 children are victims of this so-called “second-hand” smoke.
The study reports that 40% of children, 35% of non-smoking women and 33% of non-smoking men were exposed to second-hand smoke in 2004.
Exposure to second-hand smoke was therefore responsible for 379,000 deaths from ischemic heart disease, 165,000 deaths caused by respiratory infections, 36,900 deaths linked to cases of asthma and 21,400 deaths from lung cancer.
WHO experts call on the public authorities to put in place measures to significantly reduce the number of deaths associated with passive smoking, in particular by banning smoking inside public places.
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