Secondhand Smoke and Your Kids By Louis Neipris, M.D., HealthAtoZ writer
Arkansas passed a law to make smoking in a car illegal if a child is present and other states are considering the same. The reason: to protect children. Every day, 15 million children are exposed to secondhand smoke. Nine to 12 million are 6 years of age or younger and are defenseless against secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke is strongly linked with these health problems in children:
- Severe asthma attacks
- Severe inner ear infections
- Respiratory tract infections (including pneumonia and croup)
- Sudden infant death syndrome
- Childhood leukemia
About 150,000 to 300,000 children between the ages of 12 and 18 months are affected by secondhand smoke each year. About 15,000 of them are admitted to the hospital with illnesses like bronchitis and pneumonia. About 300 of these children die from respiratory problems related to secondhand smoke, including asthma attacks. What is "secondhand smoke"? Secondhand smoke is also called environmental tobacco smoke. It is the smoke that someone exhales when smoking. It also comes from the burning end of a cigarette, cigar or pipe (side-stream smoke). Both mainstream and side-stream smoke contain over 40,000 chemicals. Over 50 of these can cause cancer. Why is secondhand smoke in the home especially harmful to kids? Although adults often develop respiratory problems when exposed to secondhand smoke, children are even more at risk. Reasons include:
- Children's lungs are still developing.
- Children breathe in more air and take more frequent breaths than adults. This causes them to absorb more toxins than adults who are exposed to the same amount of secondhand smoke.
- Children's immune systems are not as protective as those of adults.
- It's more difficult for young children to avoid secondhand smoke than it is for their older siblings and other adults.
What can you do?
- Talk to your doctor about quitting. There are many nicotine replacement products and other medications that can help you. Quitting will protect your child and will also help prevent your child from smoking.
- Help others quit. If you live with someone who smokes, ask that person to quit or to smoke outside.
- Don't smoke in the car.
- Make sure that your child's school or daycare center is smoke free.
- Make sure that your babysitter doesn't smoke.
- Don't smoke around your child or leave cigarettes burning in an ashtray.
Sources: The Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act Tobacco News and Information American Academy of Otolaryngology Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids Environmental Protection Agency Centers for Disease Control
This article was reviewed and updated June 2007.
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