Results of a new study suggest that the impact of second hand smoke is hugely underestimated when it comes to deaths on an annual basis.
The study finds that one percent of all deaths around the world each year, estimated to be more than 600,000 are caused from breathing in second hand smoke.
Out of this number, the researchers, from the World Health Organization say that about 170,000 deaths are in children.
These deaths are caused by lung cancer, heart disease, strokes and other health related diseases and conditions brought about by breathing in toxic smoke.
Second hand smoke is the byproduct from smoking cigarettes, that foul smell that drives nonsmokers crazy everytime they are around people who are smoking.
The study featured more than 190 countries carried out way back in 1994.
It was published on Thursday in the British medical journal.
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