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Adults who wish to avoid exposure to second-hand smoke have options. Among my strategies: I do not allow smoking at home or in my car; I have no friends or close family members who smoke; I walk in front of smokers or cross the street to avoid them; I eat inside restaurants; and I hold my breath by passing smokers outside shops and office buildings.
But children are at the mercy of smokers in their lives – not just parents and other family members who smoke, but also babysitters, daycare workers, school bus attendants, and even children. teachers.
Although smokers can refrain from lighting around children, young people they contact are exposed to toxic substances contained in third-party smoke, which remain on furniture, clothing and skin. If you do not smoke, I'm sure you can smell a smoker at arm's length. Do you really want this person to hold your baby?
While only a quarter of Americans now smoke, nearly half of youth are chronically exposed to second-hand smoke and third-hand smoke. And, according to experts, many of these young people are paying for their health, now and in the future.
The dangers of second-hand smoke are well established. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, inhaling someone else's smoke is responsible for about 3,000 lung cancer deaths and tens of thousands of heart disease deaths among nonsmokers every year.
Burning tobacco smoke contains about 4,000 chemicals, many of which are dangerous, of which 50 are known to cause cancer. Babies who live with smokers are at increased risk of sudden infant death, a fate of a seven-month-old infant I knew and whose mother smoked and said that smoking was at fault.
According to the pediatric association, children who breathe second-hand smoke are at high risk of developing otitis, coughs and colds, bronchitis and pneumonia, as well as cavities. They are more likely to have wheezing, stuffy nose and headache, sore throat, eye irritation, hoarseness and difficulty recovering from respiratory infections. They also miss more days of school and sports opportunities, as well as moments of fun with friends.
Children prone to asthma may be at greatest risk; They have more attacks, more serious attacks and are more likely to require treatment in the emergency room and hospitalization.
One of my nephews was repeatedly transported to a hospital with life-threatening asthma attacks, but his mother continued to smoke, sometimes nearby.
These are just short-term risks. In the long term, children exposed to second-hand smoke can go through life with poorly developed lungs and be more likely to become smokers themselves. Even though they never smoke themselves, they are at increased risk of developing heart disease, lung cancer, cataracts, and even rheumatoid arthritis.
Informed parents should keep their children out of any environment where smoking is allowed, even if no one is smoking at that time. The reason? Growing concern about the potential damage caused by exposure to nicotine and other toxic tobacco substances in secondhand smoke that persists in the environment long after the disappearance of smoke.
"Our findings indicate that children carry toxic substances from tobacco smoke on their hands, even when no one around them is smoking," recently wrote Dr. E. Melinda Mahabee-Gittens and colleagues at the University of Toronto. 39, University of Cincinnati. BMJ newspaper.
Recognizing that second-hand smoke residues "accumulate in dust, in objects, on household surfaces, and on the skin and clothing of smokers," researchers say that these tobacco-toxic substances are easily transmissible from the hands of smokers. children in the mouth and body.
Children, and especially infants, are at greater risk than adults of developing second-hand smoke-related complications because they spend more time indoors, surrounded by substances contaminated by substances. toxic.
Cincinnati researchers found evidence of high levels of nicotine on the hands of 25 young children when one or both parents were smoking. The children were taken to the emergency room with a disease potentially related to exposure to the remnants of tobacco smoke.
Children exposed to second-hand smoke in which they live and play, and to second-hand smoke from people who smoke around them suffer a double blow, they said.
In addition, according to the team, the original smoke can be even more dangerous than second-hand smoke because it contains "new pollutants that are not found in second-hand smoke, has multiple routes of exposure and much longer exposure time ".
Another new study from the University of Cincinnati on 7,389 non-smoking teenagers published in Pediatrics found that those who lived with a smoker and had been exposed to second-hand smoke at home were more likely to be out of breath and have more difficulty doing exercise than their peers. They were also subject to wheezing during or after exercise and a dry cough at night.
Although the children did not have asthma, they were less likely to report being in very good or excellent health. They were more likely to miss school because of illness and were more likely to move to emergency rooms and emergency care centers.
"Children and teens exposed to second-hand smoke have up to 3.5 times more chances of getting emergency care," writes Ashley L. Merianos, the lead author. She added that "teens who live with smokers who do not smoke inside the home are still potentially exposed to tobacco smoke and its associated toxic substances."
Of course, the most serious risks associated with smoking are met by children whose parents continue to smoke when they are nearby. Dr. Adam O. Goldstein, a family medicine specialist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, compares this behavior to child abuse.
"The company does not tolerate exposing miners to asbestos, arsenic, alcohol or lead, but it acts as if exposure to tobacco smoke is different," he said. during an interview. "It's toxic to their health. The higher the dose, the worse it is, but there is no safe level of exposure.
In an editorial of the Annals of Family Medicine, he recounted a case in which "at least 10 times in three years, we advised the family to quit smoking with the five-year-old and her seven-year-old sister, while the children regularly came to dispensary infections, cough, bronchitis and asthma. "
At one point, the young child developed pneumonia and had to be ventilated. Yet, "parents have refused to talk to us about quitting, taking pharmacotherapy to quit, or not exposing their children to cigarette smoke."
In retrospect, he said, he should have contacted social services to report suspected cases of child abuse; their smoking caused physical damage.
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