Second-hand Smoke and Children
Second-hand Smoke and Children
By Viola Woolcott
Smoking is bad news and everyone knows it. Every day, millions of children inhale smoker’s air but passive smoking and the lasting consequences do not get enough publicity.
Whether indoors or outside, foetuses, infants and children in particular are at danger because they are still developing physically. It has been suggested that exposing them to smoke can cause damaging and life-long effects.
Their generally higher breathing rates, (they may inhale greater quantities of second-hand smoke than adults) make them more vulnerable to smoke and breathing in the toxins in second hand smoke, causing more cases of asthma, respiratory infections i.e. bronchitis and pneumonia as well as lung cancer. The risk of cot death and glue ear is also increased.
Sidestream smoke - Smoke that wafts from the burning tobacco product
Mainstream smoke - Smoke that the smoker exhales
No matter what you call them, but both the above types of second-hand smoke contain harmful, toxic and damaging chemicals. There are over 4,000 chemicals in second-hand smoke. Well over 60 of these chemicals in cigarette smoke are known and accepted to be the cause of cancer.
Being just an hour in a smoky room, a small child inhales as many dangerous chemicals as smoking 10 or more cigarettes.
Suspected cancer causing substances found in second-hand smoke include:
Cadmium
Ethylene oxide
Formaldehyde
Benzene
Arsenic
Some other chemicals found in second-hand smoke that might sound familiar to you – here they are along with their health effects:
Methanol — toxic when inhaled or swallowed
Carbon monoxide — hampers breathing by reducing oxygen in your blood
Hydrogen cyanide — interferes with proper respiratory function
Ammonia — irritates your lungs
The place where oxygen passes from the lungs into the bloodstream is called Alveoli. Babies are born with about one-fifth of the 300 million alveoli, which they construct between birth and the age of 8 years, as they are needed as they grow into adults. Therefore babies and children have to grow healthy lungs when they are supposed to. If they do not, they are likely never to recover from the irreversible damages and they are not going to be able to make up this loss later in life.
If you are a smoker, do not expose your foetuses, infants and children to your or anybody elses smoke.
Please read related link:
Smoking Harmful to Babies Blood Vessels
Filed under: Dare 2B Aware on January 30th, 2008
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