Your Childrens Health

Second hand smoke was classified as a known human carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1992.   Second hand smoke is also known as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS).  Tobacco smoke contains 4,000 chemicals.  Many are toxic and 43 are known to cause cancer.  Smoking causes poisons such as benzene, formaldehyde and carbon monoxide to be released into the air.

ETS causes approximately 3,000 deaths from long cancer in nonsmokers each year, 37,000 from heart disease, and 13,000 from other cancers.  Nonsmokers can also experience conditions such as coughing, chest discomfort, headaches and burning eyes and nose.

When a pregnant woman smokes, poisonous chemicals from her cigarette get into the placenta and keep the unborn baby from getting the food and oxygen it needs to grow.  After birth, exposure to second-hand smoke causes an estimated 150,000 to 300,000 cases each year of lower respiratory tract infections in children up to 18 months of age.  Child who are exposed to second hand smoke have twice as many breathing problems, coughing, wheezing, middle ear infections, and decreased lung function as do children who have nonsmoking parents.  Parents should protect children from exposure to ETS at home, in cars, daycare centers and everywhere the child spends a lot of time.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 4th, 2006 at 5:37 am and is filed under Uncategorized, Pregnancy and Newborns, Medical Care, Adolescence, Allergies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.