Image via Wikipedia
There are so many adverse side effects of second-hand smoke that everyone is well schooled in them. However, studies are still being done and new effects are being discovered all the time.
One newer studydone by Dr. Anil K. Lalwani, a professor of otolaryngology and pediatrics at the NYU Langone Medical Center, says second-hand smoke exposure also causes irreversible hearing loss.
It’s not the only adverse side effect, just the latest one, and it agrees with previous studies done on the subject. Children raised in a home with second-hand smoke are more prone to get Otitis Media, a middle-ear infection that eventually clears up without leaving behind any permanent damage. Not so when Otitis Media is caused by second-hand smoke; the damage is irreversible.
Tender Ears are in Danger
Smoke being directly blown into the ear has been known to cause infections, but, unlike those infections, this loss of hearing is caused by the chemicals in the smoke that are breathed and then introduced into the blood stream. Then in normal blood flow, the chemicals are taken to the middle ear where irreversible damage is done.
More research needs to be done, but it’s been long known that breathing nicotine smoke is dangerous and causes cancer along with a myriad of other maladies. But, this is new and important information to be added to the list.
All parents in the civilized world should know by now that cigarette smoke is dangerous to children, teens, adults and even animals. It does damage that’s irreversible in so many ways that still it’s being studied and analyzed, decades after being started.
