MODEL RELEASED. Passive smoking. A man's hand holds a lit cigarette in the foreground while a baby sits in his lap. The child is exposed to the cigarette smoke, known as passive smoking. The child may inhale secondary smoke from the parent's nicotine addiction, or smoke produced directly by the burning cigarette. This can cause respiratory problems in children: wheezing, bronchitis, asthma, and possibly lung cancer, where the child is constantly exposed to tobacco smoke. Such children are also more likely to become smokers themselves.