Second and thirdhand smoking are just as bad as firsthand smoking, as there is no safe level of exposure to cigarettes, a pulmonologist warned.
"Yung mga epekto ng mga masamang ingredients ng sigarilyo at vape, nalalanghap ng secondhand smokers (The bad ingredients of cigarettes and vapes get inhaled by second-hand smokers)," Dr. Corry Avanceña of the Makati Medical Center, told DAILY TRIBUNE on the sidelines of the "End the Epidemic on Yosi, Vape, at Alak Among the Young" media forum held in Quezon City on Wednesday.
"Pero yung thirdhand smoke, kunwari nanigarilyo ka sa kwarto, didikit sa floor, sa dingding. Yung bata na gumagapang, didikit sa skin nila. Maa-absorb nila (Third-hand smoke, meanwhile, is the type which lingers inside the room where you smoke. It sticks to the floor and the walls. And if you have a kid crawling, they will absorb it too, it will stick to their skin)," Avanceña explained.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, secondhand smoke exposure occurs when people breathe in smoke exhaled by smokers or from burning tobacco products.
Meanwhile, thirdhand smoke is the residue of tobacco smoke that lingers on surfaces, furniture, and skin. According to the Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP), it can also be inhaled or absorbed through the skin.
LCP said thirdhand smoke is a health risk to nonsmokers, especially children.
"Kunwari may buntis, exposed to somebody smoking, yung bata sa sinapupunan niya, affected na yung lungs (For example, there's someone pregnant who's exposed to smoking, it also affects the lungs of her fetus)," Avanceña said.
"[We're] hoping na sana makita nila na it's not just the smoker, pero yung secondhand and thirdhand smoker naaapektuhan (So we're hoping that they could see it, it's not just the smokers who are affected, by also those secondhand and thirdhand smokers)," the health expert added.
Recently, a four-year-old boy from Mindanao died after developing pneumonia due to secondhand cigarette smoke.
The baby's mother said that although she does not smoke, many of their relatives, including the baby's grandfather and the mother's brother-in-law, do.