Cigarette
Smoke
& Kids' Health
Second hand smoke is
a major cause of children's illness -- yet 85% of adults who smoke and
who live with a child do not ensure that the child is not exposed to the
smoke from their cigarettes.
PSC analysis of
Smoking in Canadian homes with Children
Background on
Smoking & Kids' health
Background on
Smoking & Kids' health
The impact of second-hand smoke on kids health
Second-hand smoke
(which is sometimes called environmental tobacco smoke or ETS) contains toxic substances,
over 40 of which cause cancer. Some of these substances are in stronger concentrations in
second-hand smoke than they are in the smoke that goes directly into smokers’ lungs.
ETS is causally linked
with a number of adverse health effects in children (under 18), including:
- lower respiratory tract infections (i.e.
croup, bronchitis and pneumonia)
- increased fluid in the middle ear
- upper respiratory tract irritation
- reduced lung function
- additional episodes of asthma
- increased severity of asthmatic symptoms
in children
- reduced oxygen flow to tissues,
comparable to children with anemia, cyanotic heart disease or chronic lung disease †
ETS is also associated
with:
-
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
- acute middle ear infections (otitis
media)
- tonsillectomy
- meningococcal infections
- cancers and leukemias in childhood
- slower growth
- adverse neurobehavioural effects
- upper respiratory tract infections
(colds and sore throats)
- unfavorable cholesterol levels and
initiation of atherosclerosis (heart disease) †
A
British study found that SIDS deaths could be reduced by two-thirds if
parents did not smoke.***
A U.S. analysis** of over
100 reports on pædiatric diseases concluded that children’s exposure to tobacco
smoke is responsible for up to:
-
13% of ear
infection
(approximately 220,000 ear infections in Canadian children)*
-
26% of tympanostomy tube insertions
(approximately 16,500 in Canada)
-
24% of tonsillectomies and
adenoidectomies
(approx. 2,100 Canadian operations)
-
13% of asthma cases
(approx. 52,200 cases in Canada)
-
16% of physician visits for cough
(approx. 200,000 visits in Canada)
-
20% of all lung infections in children
under 5
(approx. 43,600 cases of bronchitis in Canada and 19,000 cases of
pneumonia in Canada)
-
136-212 childhood deaths from lower
respiratory infection
(approx. 13-20 in Canada)
-
148 childhood deaths from fires started
by tobacco products
(approx. 15 in Canada)
-
1868-2708 SIDS deaths‡
(approx. 180-270 in Canada)
* the number of
Canadian cases is extrapolated from U.S. estimates
† [Samet,
JM. Synthesis: The Health Effects of Tobacco Smoke Exposure on Children. January 7, 1999]
‡[California
EPA. Final Report: Health Effects of Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke, Sept. 1997]
** Joseph diFranza and
Robert Lew, Morbidity and Mortality in Children Associated with the Use of Tobacco
Products by Other People, Paediatrics, 1996, 97:560-568].
*** Peter Blair et al. Smoking and the sudden infant death
syndrome: results from 1993-5 case-control study for confidential
inquiry into stillbirths and deaths in infancy. British Medical Journal,
1996: 313.
Adult knowledge about impact on kids' health
Canadians overwhelmingly believe that
cigarette smoke is harmful to the non-smoker. Only 9% think there is no danger to the
non-smoker.
Canadians are most likely to identify
lung cancer and bronchitis and other respiratory problems as diseases associated with
second-hand smoke. Smokers and those who live with smokers are less likely to acknowledge
the health effects of smoking.
[Survey on Smoking in Canada, 1994-95,
Cycle 2, Statistics Canada]
… but don’t
know of the direct impact on children’s health …
Only 1 in 5 Canadians surveyed believed
that second-hand smoke could cause ear infections. Even among those who know that
second-hand smoke poses a danger, many mistakenly believe that children’s health is
only harmed by smoking directly around them.
[Environmental Tobacco Smoke:
Knowledge, Attitudes and Actions of Parents, Children and Child Care Providers, Health
Canada, 1995].
Number of kids exposed to cigarette smoke in their homes
Almost half of all Canadian children
under the age of 15, some 2.8 million children, are exposed to second-hand smoke on a
regular basis.
[Parliamentary Secretary to the
Minister of Health on second reading debate of Bill C-24, June 6, 1996].
Four in 10 Canadian households include
someone who regularly smokes in the home. Neither the presence of children nor their age
affects whether or not homes are kept smoke-free.
A further 40% of Canadian homes have no
regular smoker living there, but permit visitors to smoke in their home. Only 19% of
Canadian homes are smoke-free.
[Survey on Smoking in Canada 1994-95,
Cycle 2]
In smoker’s homes, an average of
18 cigarettes a day are smoked. In only 1 in 5 of these households are cigarettes not
smoked directly in front of children.
Smokers are more likely to have mainly
smokers in their social circle, and their children are more likely to be in contact with
these smoking friends and relatives than are the children of non-smokers.
[An Assessment of Knowledge, Attitudes
and Practices Concerning Environmental Tobacco Smoke, 1995 – Ekos Research
Associates]
Impact
of mothers' smoking on the fetus
Maternal smoking can affect the fetus
and the outcome of the pregnancy. Smoking deprives the fetus of needed oxygen and other
nutrients. This may result in:
- deficits in intellectual ability and
behavioral problems
- low birth weight or intra-uterine growth
retardation
- spontaneous abortion (miscarriage)
- stillbirth
- reduced lung function in the baby
- complications in pregnancy
Exposure to someone else’s smoking
can harm an expectant mother’s baby. Research into this area is still incomplete, and
the full effects are still unknown. What we do know is that the best chance for a healthy
baby and healthy mother is a pregnancy where both are not exposed to any tobacco smoke.
[Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) in
Home Environments, Health Canada, 1996].
Why kids are especially vulnerable
Young children are especially
vulnerable to second-hand smoke in the home because:
- they breathe more air relative to body
weight (and for the same level of exposure will absorb more tobacco smoke toxins)
- they are less able to complain (either
because they are too young, or because their complaints are ignored)
- their immune system is less protective
- they are less able to remove themselves
from exposure
What's in second-hand smoke
Tobacco smoke contains more than
4,000 substances, of which more than 40 are known to cause cancer.
These carcinogens include:
arsenic. nickel, chromium, cadmium,
lead, polonium-210, vinyl chloride, formaldehyde, benz(a)anthracene,
benzo[b]fouoranthene, benzo[j]fluoranthene, benzo[k]fluoranthene,
benzo[a]pyrene, chrysene, dibenz[a,h]anthracene, dibenzo[a,I]pyrene,
dibenzo[a,l]pyrene, indeno [1,2,3-c,d]pyrene,
5-methylchrysene, quinoline, dibenz[a,h]acridine, dibenz[a,j]acridine,
7H-dibenzo[c,g]carbazole, N-nitrosodimethylamine, N-nitrosoethylmethylamine,
N-nitrosodiethylamine, N-snitrosopyrrolidine, N-nitrosodimethylamine,
N’-nitrosonornicotine, 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone,
N’-nitrosoanabasine, N-nitrosomorpholine, 2-toluidine, 2-naphthylamine,
4-aminobiphenyl, acetaldehyde, crotonaldehyde, benzene, acrylonitrile,
1,1-dimethylhydrazine, 2-nitropropane, ethylcarbamate, hydrazine.
Even if smoking is restricted to a
single room, the harmful constituents of cigarette smoke can be dispersed throughout the
house. Many of these highly dangerous chemicals are in invisible gas form.
Setting an example
Many parents avoid doing things in
front of their children which they don’t want the children to imitate – like
swearing or jay-walking. If you smoke, it may be a good idea not to smoke in front of your
children: children whose parents smoke are twice as likely to become regular smokers.
Support for bans on smoking around children
Canadians care about children, and want
to protect them from harm. That’s why parents ensure their children wear seat-belts
in the car, and why they listen carefully to public health warnings. For example, many
parents were recently prompted to change their window coverings when it was learned that
some imported blinds contained leaded plastics. (Tobacco smoke also contains significant
amount of lead and other toxic chemicals).
But researchers have only recently
established the seriousness of the harm caused to children by tobacco smoke. Many Canadian
parents and caregivers are not yet aware of the variety of illnesses it causes. Some of
them mistakenly think opening a window or smoking in another room will remove the risks.
Canadians spend 90% of their time
indoors; when tobacco smoke is present, inddor air is highly polluted.
A large survey in 1995 showed that 60%
of Ontarians thought that parents spending time with small children should not smoke at
all inside the house, and another 33% said they should smoke only in another part of the
house. Only 8% thought that these parents should feel free to smoke in front of their
children.
But the same Ontarians think that
families – not governments – should set the rules. Most did not support
legislation to stop parents from smoking inside their homes when children are present
(35.5% strongly or somewhat agreed; 63.5% strongly or somewhat disagreed). And they were
divided on whether there should be laws against smoking inside cars when children are
present (50.6% agreed; 48.4% disgreed).
[Ontario Alcohol and Other Drug Opinion
Survey, 1995]
An overwhelming majority of child-care
workers surveyed (91%) strongly agreed that "There should be regulations regarding
smoking around children that all child-care providers should follow"
[Environmental Tobacco Smoke:
Knowledge, Attitudes and Actions of Parents, Children and Child Care Providers, Health
Canada, 1995]
How smokers' beliefs differ from non-smokers'
A survey by University of
Waterloo researchers showed that smokers were much less likely than non-smokers to believe
that:
- second-hand smoke hurts non-smokers (77%
to 93%)
- second-hand smoke caused lung cancer in
non-smokers (54% to 79%)
And that they were much more likely to
believe that:
- air pollution is a greater health risk
to non-smokers than second-hand smoke (51% to 35%)
- people are too concerned about the
effect of other people’s smoking (63% vs. 33%)
- evidence of the dangers of second-hand
smoke is exaggerated (46% vs. 32%)
[Rickert WS, Walker R, Brown KS,
Cameron R. Environmental tobacco smoke in the home: Attitudes, beliefs and actions of
smokers and non-smokers.]
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