Everybody knows how smoking affects the smoker, but there is a growing body of scientific and medical evidence that shows just how harmful secondhand smoke really is.

If you're a parent or someone who is around children, you've got a big responsibility. Secondhand smoke is especially harmful to children. It causes 300,000 cases of pneumonia and bronchitis in children every year. These children are also more likely to get colds, allergies, asthma and ear infections. And babies of parents who smoke are twice as likely to die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Each year in the U.S., 3000 nonsmokers die from lung cancer caused by secondhand smoke, and smoke from the burning end of a cigarette has more toxins than smoke inhaled by the smoker. So, smoking in another room of the house when children are home still puts them at great risk. And smoking in the car, even with the window open, affects your passengers. Children are very vulnerable to the effects of secondhand smoke.

You know that when you quit smoking you are not only improving your health, but the life and health of those around you.

In 1993 the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a landmark report on the health effects of secondhand smoke, otherwise known as "Environmental Tobacco Smoke," or "ETS." The report, based on careful study of the best scientific evidence, concluded that exposure to ETS was widespread and caused devastating health effects, especially among children. Since then, new scientific evidence has only strengthened the EPA's conclusions.

Spurred by the EPA's 1993 report, the Rhode Island Department of Health (HEALTH) and other public health advocates brought the report's message to the public, to schools and businesses, and to the Rhode Island General Assembly. State laws were passed to prohibit smoking in schools and many public places, and to protect the atmospheric environment of non-smokers in the workplace. Many businesses voluntarily prohibited smoking indoors.

Legislative efforts to prohibit smoking in restaurants have failed, and only a small percentage of restaurants have voluntarily gone smoke-free. With no sure change on the horizon, and with the EPA's original conclusions strengthened by the results of new scientific studies, HEALTH recommends that parents protect children from second-hand smoke.

From the EPA:

The EPA has made its findings on ETS accessible to the public at www.epa.gov/iaq/ets.html. The information which follows has been excerpted from the EPA website.

About the 1993 Report:

"The Environmental Protection Agency firmly maintains that the bulk of the scientific evidence demonstrates that secondhand smoke -- environmental tobacco smoke, or "ETS" -- causes lung cancer and other significant health threats to children and adults. EPA’s report ("Respiratory Health Effects of Passive Smoking: Lung Cancer and Other Disorders," EPA/600/6-90/006F) was peer-reviewed by 18 eminent, independent scientists who unanimously endorsed the study’s methodology and conclusions. Since EPA’s 1993 report which estimated the risks posed by ETS, numerous independent health studies have presented an impressive accumulating body of evidence that confirms and strengthens the EPA findings. It is widely accepted in the scientific and public health communities that secondhand smoke poses significant health risks to children and adults."

What is second hand smoke?

"Secondhand smoke is a mixture of the smoke given off by the burning end of a cigarette, pipe, or cigar, and the smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers. This mixture contains more than 4,000 substances, more than 40 of which are known to cause cancer in humans or animals and many of which are strong irritants. Secondhand smoke is also called environmental tobacco smoke (ETS); exposure to secondhand smoke is called involuntary smoking, or passive smoking."

Secondhand smoke can cause lung cancer in nonsmokers.

"Secondhand smoke has been classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a known cause of lung cancer in humans (Group A carcinogen). Passive smoking is estimated by EPA to cause approximately 3,000 lung cancer deaths in nonsmokers each year."

The risks to children are widely acknowledged.

"The conclusion that secondhand smoke causes respiratory effects in children is widely shared and virtually undisputed. Even the tobacco industry does not contest these effects in its media and public relations campaign.

ETS exposure increases the risk of lower respiratory tract infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia. EPA estimates that between 150,000 and 300,000 of these cases annually in infants and young children up to 18 months of age are attributable to exposure to ETS. Of these, between 7,500 and 15,000 will result in hospitalization.
ETS exposure increases the prevalence of fluid in the middle ear, a sign of chronic middle ear disease.
ETS exposure in children irritates the upper respiratory tract and is associated with a small but significant reduction in lung function.
ETS exposure increases the frequency of episodes and severity of symptoms in asthmatic children. The report estimates that 200,000 to 1,000,000 asthmatic children have their condition worsened by exposure to environmental tobacco smoke.
ETS exposure is a risk factor for new cases of asthma in children who have not previously displayed symptoms."

Highlights

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