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Childhood Secondhand Smoke Exposure can Lead to Adult Emphysema 

Columbia researchers just found that people exposed to secondhand cigarette smoke early in life showed emphysema-like changes in their lungs in adulthood and had a higher risk of having emphysema. This isn't surprising because the effects of toxic substances inside the body will undoubtedly affect you even years after exposure - largely because the body isn't fully capable of removing all of the toxic chemicals we're regularly exposed to. This includes, but certainly isn't limited to, cigarette smoke.

Doctors regularly maintain that the body is fully capable of removing all of the toxins that people regularly take in. However, if this was the case these people likely wouldn't have had problems from early cigarette exposure years later in life - as the body is constantly regenerating itself. It's estimated that the lungs are completely rebuilt each and every year, and without the cause still in place the lungs most likely would have repaired themselves by adulthood.

The participants were 45 - 84 years old and weren't smokers. Using a CT scan, researchers looked into the lungs of those who lived with a habitually smoking parent and compared them to the lungs of other non-smokers who weren't exposed to cigarette smoke from parents.

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