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Few Smokers Think Secondhand Smoke Is Dangerous

Photo by PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL/AFP/Getty Images.

Americans agree that smoking is bad for you, but only half of those polled are likely to admit the same is true of secondhand smoke.

Gallup’s annual Consumption Habits poll found 28 percent, or fewer than 3 in 10 U.S. smokers, consider secondhand smoke to be “very harmful” for adults. Meanwhile, 63 percent of nonsmokers consider secondhand smoke “very harmful.” Nearly 1 in 4 smokers say secondhand smoke is “not too” or “not at all” harmful.

An increasing number of studies link secondhand smoke to harmful effects, including heart and lung disease in adults and numerous illnesses in babies and children. But those graphic anti-smoking PSAs must be working to some extent78 percent of smokers now say they’d like to quit.