Smoking & families

22nd November 2018

When you smoke a cigarette (or a roll-up, pipe or cigar), the smoke doesn't just go into your lungs, it goes into the air around you where anyone nearby can breathe it in. This isn't just unpleasant for others - the smoke left hanging in the air is also extremely toxic and can damage the health of your family and friends, as well as your own.

People who breathe in this “secondhand smoke” regularly are more likely to get the same diseases as smokers, including lung cancer and heart disease.

The only way to protect your friends and family from secondhand smoke is to keep the environment around them completely smoke free.

The best way to do that is to quit smoking completely. If you're not quite ready to quit, make every effort to keep your cigarette smoke away from other people and never smoke indoors or in the car.

• Always smoke outside
• Ask visitors who smoke to go outside
• Don't smoke in the car or allow anyone else to smoke - this is now illegal anyway if there are any passengers aged 18 years or below.
• Take Bexley's Smokefree Homes Pledge and commit to a fresh and healthy home.

Call 0800 783 2514 for more details.