Page 37 - TAIWAN TOBACCO CONTROL ANNUAL REPORT 2019

In order to make the awareness of the prevention of the hazards of tobacco take root, the HPA launched a film "Quit Smoking to Fight Against Third-hand Smoke" in 2017 in cooperation with the popular online graphic illustration "Elementary School Classbook Yearbook", and coupled with the "Smoke-free home - Interactive Vehicle for Tobacco Control" to go deep into the campus, as well as various counties and cities to promote smoking cessation. In the first episode of the film, the protagonist's father decided to quit smoking in order to prevent exposure to third hand smoke to pets at home. In 2018, the second episode of the film was released, emphasizing the benefits of "smoking cessation" for family and pets in order to reduce the health hazards to pets from tobacco smoking. Second and third hand smoke consist of tobacco residue which could also increase the risk of cancer in pets Smoking at home not only exposes family members to the risk of second and third hand smoke, but also cause harm to pets as third hand smoke enters the body via mouth, tongue, nose and respiratory system. For dogs that already have respiratory illnesses, inhaling smoke will only severely worsen their health condition and cough, and pet dogs that are exposed to high concentrations of second and third hand smoke (more than 1 package of cigarettes per day in a home of around 300sqft) will have 4 times the risk of atopic dermatitis compared to that of smoke-free homes. For cats, smoking may bring more harm to them as they are meticulous by nature, with 2-3 times the risk of developing oral cancer and lymphoma as the cat may consume third hand smoke attached to the cat fur while grooming. Even with treatments including chemotherapy, radiotherapy or surgery, most cats can still only live for less than a year after the occurence of the disease. Quit Smoking to Create a Smoke Free Home After knowing the harm of cigarette smoking to pets, most people may think that using e-cigarettes and other products are relatively safer for pets. In fact, this is not the case, as most e-cigarettes contain concentrations of nicotine or other toxic chemicals such as HCHO (Formaldehyde) that exceeded standards, and the wave of e-cigarettes may bring new risks for pets. E-cigarettes contain nicotine, and pets may accidentally consume high concentrations of nicotine as they bite the e-cigarette cartridge, which may be very toxic to pets. According to the statistical reports, the lethal dose of nicotine for cats or dogs is around 20-100mg, while most e-cigarettes contain nicotine of 3-24mg /ml, one cigarette contains 9-30mg of nicotine, and even cigarette butts contain 5-7mg of nicotine, with no specific "antidote" for nicotine poisoning. ◎ First and second-hand smoke are very poisonous, while third hand smoke is even more poisonous 35 Reducing the Demand for Tobacco