SECONDHAND SMOKE AT HOME MAKES CHILDREN SICK
"Tobacco products place an enormous burden of illness on children, far greater than would be tolerated of any other product." - Dr. Joseph DiFranza
More than 40% of America's children live in households where one or more people smoke. Millions of them are being made ill by being exposed to the smoke. While everyone knows that smoking is bad for the person who smokes, and many people know that secondhand smoke is dangerous, most family members do not know that exposing their children to it makes them sick.
We spend more time in our homes than anywhere else. Nobody likes the thought of cancer-causing chemicals circulating throughout our houses and apartments, yet that is exactly what happens when someone lights a cigarette in your home. Ventilation systems in homes cannot filter and circulate air well enough to eliminate secondhand smoke. Blowing smoke away from children, going into another room to smoke, or opening a window may help reduce children's exposure, but will not protect them from the dangers of secondhand smoke. Like chlorine in a swimming pool, smoke does not stop when it reaches the no smoking sign.
Illnesses children get from secondhand smoke
Asthma and aggravation of existing asthma
Ear infections
Tympanostomy (tubes surgically inserted in ears)
Coughs
Bronchitis
Pneumonia
Hospitalizations and deaths from respiratory tract infections (bronchitis and pneumonia)
Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy
Dr. DiFranza's Recommendations*
After looking at all the studies that show these illnesses associated with secondhand smoke, Dr. Joseph DiFranza drew some conclusions that may seem very strong when you read them. But it is because he saw so clearly, in study after study, how devastating secondhand smoke is to children, that he made the following recommendations:
Smoking should be banned wherever children are present.
Children should be excluded from designated smoking areas.
Organizations that cater to children should guarantee them smoke free environments at all facilities and events.
Potential exposure to secondhand smoke should be one of many factors considered in custody cases and situations in which children are placed in homes.
Continued household exposure to secondhand smoke for asthmatic children despite physicians' advice to the contrary may constitute neglect or abuse.
*Sources: 1) DiFranza, Joseph R., MD and Robert A. Lew, PhD. "Morbidity and Mortality in Children Associated with the Use of Tobacco Products by Other People" in Pediatrics: Vol. 97 No. 4, April 1996. 2) South Carolina Department of Health.