Young adults and secound-hand smoke

Second-hand tobacco smoke is hazardous to human health. It contains over 4,000 chemicals of which 50 are known to cause cancer. More than 1,000 Canadians die each year from second-hand tobacco smoke-related illness.

Much is known about the serious health effects of second-hand smoke and in recent years considerable progress has been made to protect Canadians in public and work places. In spite of these advances, segments of the population remain unprotected from second-hand smoke in certain environments, such as children who live with parents who smoke and young adults who work in service industries.

Young adults are an emerging priority population for tobacco control in Canada and in other jurisdictions. There is growing interest in targeting tobacco control efforts at this population segment because:

• among all age groups, young adults report the highest rate of smoking (30% of Canadian young adults aged 20 - 24^* are smokers);
• there are very significant gaps in data pertaining to this age group;
• knowledge of behaviours, attitudes and effective interventions is lacking; and
• young adults are a key target group for tobacco industry promotional efforts.