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Home › Articles › Nutrition and Health › Cigarette Smoke is a Danger in the Air

Cigarette Smoke is a Danger in the Air

What Are the Effects of Secondhand Smoke?

By Jacqueline Rupp

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A serious danger to your children's health has been found in homes across the country. Although it has long been thought dangerous, new evidence links this airborne threat with a whole host of the most common childhood ailments. Long-term effects have also been confirmed. Infants are especially vulnerable, but no child is immune.

But now for the good news: This danger is completely preventable. All you have to do to keep your children safe from its effects is to not smoke around them. That's right, the threat is secondhand smoke. And unlike other environmental hazards, genetic diseases and contagious viruses, the ill effects from secondhand smoke are completely preventable.

As parents, health and safety are usually our top concerns. You probably find yourself constantly watching out for your kids throughout the day, saying things like: "Don't eat that candy; it's almost dinnertime." "Hold my hand; we're in a parking lot." "Did you remember to wash your hands?" But with more than 13 million American children regularly breathing secondhand smoke, according to the American Legacy Foundation, a lot of families appear to be overlooking one of the most serious health dangers.
 
Direct Effect
The American Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit group that develops programs to educate, counter-market and campaign against tobacco, recently studied smoking in families for its new "Don't Pass Gas" campaign. It found that parents make up the vast majority of smokers living with children, and most households with a smoker have far less stringent rules against smoking in the home than non-smokers.

"Exposure to secondhand smoke makes children much more susceptible to ear infections, asthma, sinus infections and chronic bronchitis," says Dr. Norman Edelman, chief medical officer for the American Lung Association. "The over 4,000 chemicals, some known carcinogens, can be highly irritating to the mucous membranes."


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