In the United States, there are 25.9 million men and 20.7 million women who smoke cigarettes. You know the dangers surrounding smoking and the heath risks people take by smoking, but do you what problems you are causing your child? Adults have the understanding and the choice whether to smoke or not, but your child doesn’t. Second hand smoke contains about 250 chemicals including formaldehyde, benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic, ammonia, and hydrogen cyanide which are toxic or cancer causing. Even brief exposures to second hand smoke are harmful to children, yet 30% to 33% of middle school and high school children live in a home with a smoker.
Beginning with smoking or second hand smoke during a pregnancy, babies have weaker lungs then babies who were not exposed. Having weaker lungs opens the door for other major health problems too. Infants and young children’s lungs are still developing making them more susceptible which results in decreased lung function. Second hand smoke causes children to more likely to have a cough, wheeze, phlegm, and breathlessness.
Tobacco causes health problems in one of every four children. Second hand smoke weakens the airways and makes children vulnerable to germs, poisons, and pollutants. Tobacco smoke decreases the blood level of vitamin C which is used in your child’s immunity. Decreases in immunity means increases asthma, tonsillitis, respiratory infections, and ear infections. About 400,000 to 1,00,000 cases of asthma and 150,000 to 300,000 acute lower respiratory tract infections are due to second hand smoke. Of the respiratory infections about 7,500 to 15,000 end up in the hospital.
As the cycle continues, these health problems just cause more heath problems in return such as the bacterial and viral infections can be so severe to hospitalize a child to cause death. Death from second hand smoke was recently estimated at 46,000 cardiovascular, 3400 lung cancer, and 430 sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) every year. We know cigarettes can cause cancer for smokers, but second hand smoke can also cause an increase cancer risk in children. These cancers include cancer of the cervix, brain, thyroid, or breast.
Outside of your child’s heath, there is a decrease in the scores for vocabulary and reasoning. Smoking also causes a poor example for children as children who grow up with a smoker are more likely to become a smoker themselves. If your children become smokers themselves, then in addition to the problems they had as children, they face the serious health consequences as adult smokers.
Protecting your children from the dangers of second hand smoke is easy beginning with never smoking or allowing anyone to smoke in the house by asking them to go outside. The next way to protect your children is choosing places that are smoke free. By keeping your child away from second hand smoke, you limit the chances of your children becoming sick, hospitalized, or even worse. Making the choice to live smoke free is a choice worth making.
