Smoking

Second Hand Smoke
Smoking and Your Developing Baby
Creating a Smoke-Free Environment
Reasons to Quit
You Can Quit Smoking!

Second Hand Smoke

Even if you don't smoke, breathing in someone else's smoke can be deadly, too. Secondhand smoke causes about 3,000 deaths from lung cancer and tens of thousands of deaths from heart disease in nonsmoking adults in the United States each year.

Millions of children are breathing in secondhand smoke in their own homes. Secondhand smoke can be especially harmful to your children's health because their lungs are still developing. If you smoke around your children or they are exposed to secondhand smoke in other places, they may be in more danger than you realize.

What is secondhand smoke?

Secondhand smoke (also known as environmental tobacco smoke or ETS) is the smoke a smoker breathes out and that comes from the tip of burning cigarettes, pipes, and cigars.

Facts about Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS): or What your smoking does to your children:

• Tobacco smoke contains about 4,000 chemical compounds, including carbon monoxide, ammonia, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide, nicotine, nitrogen oxides, phenol, sulfur dioxide, and other poisons.
• In 1992, the Environmental Protection Agency designated ETS a class A carcinogen, the class known to cause cancer in humans.
• ETS causes adverse health effects at every stage of life. ETS exposure is especially significant for young children because they are more likely to spend more time at home in close proximity to their parents than older children, and because children have a higher rate of metabolism and their lungs and other organs are developing. Hundreds of studies have established short-term and long-term detrimental effects of ETS exposure. Srong evidence exists that children exposed to ETS have increased rates of:
  • upper respiratory illnesses (colds - occur more often and take longer to get over)
  • lower respiratory illnesses (bronchitis, pneumonia)
  • middle ear infections
  • tonsillectomy and adenoidecttomy
  • cough
  • asthma: children with asthma are especially sensitive to ETS. They not only suffer from more asthma attacks, but the attacks may be more severe, requiring more trips to the doctor and/or hospital
  • Colic
  • SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome)
  • Learning problems and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
  • Tooth decay
• Children exposed to ETS often have symptoms that are hard to distinguish from chronic nasal allergies: stuffy nose, headache, sore throat, eye irritation, hoarseness.
• ETS exposure has been estimated to cause symptoms of asthma in 200,000 to 1,000,000 children and as many as 8,000 to 26,000 new cases of asthma a year.
• Several studies show that children exposed to ETS are more likely to have significant respiratory complications when they undergo general anesthesia.
• A lifelong reduction in lung function has been demonstrated in children exposed to ETS during early childhood.
• Children who live in a household with smokers are at greater risk of injury and death from fire.
• In 1993, parental smoking resulted in estimated direct medical costs of $4.6 billion and loss of life costs of $8.2 billion.
• Long-term effects of ETS exposure, including lung cancer,  heart disease, and cataracts (an eye disease) have been found in adults exposed to ETS.
• Children who grow up with parents who smoke are themselves more likely to smoke. Children and teens who smoke are affected by the same health problems that affect adults.

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Smoking and Your Developing Baby

If you smoke when you're pregnant, your baby is exposed to harmful chemicals, too. Smoking when you're pregnant may lead to many serious health problems for your baby, including:

• Miscarriage
• Premature birth
• ower birth weight than expected (which can possibly mean a less healthy baby)
• Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
• Colic
• Learning problems and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

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Creating a Smoke-Free Environment

The following tips may help keep your children from being exposed to secondhand smoke:

• Set the example. If you smoke, quit today!! You Can Quit Smoking! If your children see you smoking, they may want to try it, and they may grow up smoking as well. If there are cigarettes at home, children are more likely to experiment with smoking which is the first step in developing the habit.

• Make your home and car smoke-free. Until you can quit, don't smoke around your children or in your home and car.

• Remove your children from places where there are smokers. Sit in non-smoking sections in public places. Eat at smoke-free restaurants.

• Ask people not to smoke in your home. Don't put out any ashtrays. Remember, air flows throughout a house, so smoking in even one room allows smoke to go everywhere.

• Choose a babysitter who doesn't smoke. If your babysitter does smoke, ask her not to smoke when she's caring for your children. Consider changing babysitters to find a smoke-free environment for your children.

• Encourage smoke-free child-care and schools. Help your children's child care or school, including outdoor areas and teachers' lounges, become smoke-free. Get your children involved in the effort to make schools smoke-free!

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 Reasons to Quit

• Your children will be healthier.
• You will be setting a good example for your children.
• You will feel better physically. You will perform better in physical activities, such as walking up stairs.
• Food will taste better.
• Your sense of smell will improve.
• Your home, car, clothing, and breath will smell better.
• You will have fewer wrinkles and your skin won't age as fast.
• Your voice will not become that deep, hoarse "smoker's voice".
• You will decrease your risk for cancers caused by cigarettes.
• You will be able to stop worrying about quitting and you will be able to say that you are a former smoker.
• You will be able to stop worrying about exposing others to smoke.

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You Can Quit Smoking!

One of the most important things you can do for your own health and the health of your children is to stop smoking. Quitting is the best way to prevent your children from being exposed to secondhand smoke. It is also the best way to prevent your own child from starting the smoking habit.

It is very difficult to quit smoking. It is a true addiction. Most ex-smokers have tried numerous times to quit before they succeed. Success usually occurs when you do two things:

1. Use some sort of nicotine replacement: Talk with your doctor. There are many over-the counter and prescription medicines that can help you quit.

2. Make a plan that involves getting ready to quit, as well as how to survive the process of quitting.

Also, you may find it helpful to join a stop-smoking class.

Materials to help you quit are available by phone, 1-800-358-9295, or on the web: www.surgeongeneral.gov/tobacco/default.htm

Through these sources you can obtain the following brochures:

• Five Common Myths About Quitting Smoking
• Frequently Asked Questions about Quitting Smoking
• You Can Quit Smoking Consumer Guide
• A 5-Day Plan To Get Ready
• Tips for the First Week
• Help for Pregnant Smokers

Other sources include:

American Cancer Society
1-800-ACS-2345 (1-800-227-2345)
www.cancer.org

American Heart Association
1-800-AHA-USA-1 (1-800-242-8721)
222.americanheart.ort

American Lung Association
1-800-LUNG-USA (1-800-586-4872)
www.lungusa.org

 

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