Secondhand Smoke Could Be
Harmful To Your Children!

Every year, exposure to secondhand smoke causes thousands of children to suffer serious ailments, including pneumonia, bronchitis, ear infections, and other respiratory illnesses.

Studies have shown that during the first two years of life, babies of parents who smoke suffer a much higher rate of lung diseases than babies with nonsmoking parents.

What Is Secondhand Smoke?

Young Children Are At Greatest Risk

"The children of parents who smoke, compared with children of non-smoking parents, have an increased frequency of respiratory infections, increased respiratory symptoms, and slightly smaller rates of increased lung function as the lung matures." Research has proven that children who are exposed to secondhand smoke have about a 40 percent higher rate of new ear infections, and when they get ear infections they last nearly one and one half times longer than those not exposed to smoke.

Not only do parents who smoke place their children at risk, a pregnant woman who smokes also puts her unborn child's health at risk by "smoking for two." During pregnancy, nicotine byproducts and other dangerous chemicals in smoke enter the mother's bloodstream, then pass into the unborn baby's body.

We spend more time in our homes than anywhere else. Nobody likes the thought of cancer-causing chemicals circulating throughoutourhouses and apartments. Yet according to the EPA, that is exactly what happens when someone lights a cigarette in your home.

Ventilation systems in homes cannot filter and circulate air well enough to eliminate secondhand smoke. Blowing smoke away from children, going into another room to smoke, or opening a window may help reduce children's exposure, but will not protect them from the dangers of secondhand smoke.

Benefits of a Smoke-Free Home

• When your home is smoke-free it will "smell" much better.
• Your food will taste better.
• You'll spend less time, energy, and money cleaning your curtains, walls, windows, and mirrors.
• Your insurance rates may be lower -- check with your insurance company.
• Even your pets will be healthier. Secondhand smoke increases the risk of lung cancer in dogs.

  What Can You Do

• If you smoke, quit.
• If others in your household smoke, ask them to quit. If they can't or won't quit, ask them to smoke outside the house.
• If you are a smoker and visit friends or other family members, don't endanger their health by lighting up.
• When eating in a restaurant, always ask to be seated in the No Smoking section.
• Make your home smoke-free.
• Support strong clean indoor air laws in your community.
• Demand your right to a smoke-free work environment.
• Teach your children about the dangers of smoking.
• Encourage your children's schools to become completely smoke-free.