After I dropped my nephew at school last Monday morning I started toward my office and had to spend what seems like forever waiting to turn at the intersection of Georgia Highway 22 and Roberson Mill Road/ 441 Bypass. As most people do, I started looking around at the people in the cars around me just to pass the time. A silver van was to my left and in the back seat was a child who was maybe 2 or 3 years old and she was rubbing her eyes as they were watering. She didn’t appear to be crying, but her eyes were red and irritated. I looked in the driver’s seat to see if anyone else might be concerned about this little girl’s eye problem and I found the very source of it. A woman was puffing away on a cigarette with the van’s window partially down. Now if adults want to smoke cigarettes even though they know the research against smoking that is their choice and none of my business. Children, however, do not have a choice and it borders being abusive in my opinion for an adult to smoke in an enclosed or partially enclosed space with a child present. If adults are not aware of the dangers of secondhand smoke for their children, please take this opportunity to learn about it, spread the word to other adult smokers, and help to save the lives and health of our children.
Secondhand smoke is the smoke that comes from smoldering cigarettes and smoke that is exhaled from the lungs of someone who smokes. It is also called environmental tobacco smoke, or ETS. Over 4000 different chemicals have been identified in ETS, and 43 of those are proven carcinogens, or cancer-causing agents. ETS is more dangerous than inhaled smoke from a cigarette because the inhaled smoke first goes through a filter before it goes into the lungs. Children and any other people who are exposed to ETS do not have the luxury of a filter before it hits their lungs, nose, eyes, ears, clothes, or hair. In a metro Atlanta community last week an adolescent was suspended from school because the school officials smelled smoke on her as she walked past. As it turned out, the girl’s sister and father both smoke and contaminate her daily. She does not smoke at all. Of course the school officials reversed their punishment but this child had no choice but to be exposed to a copious amount of cigarette smoke on a regular basis. She lives with and rides in the car with two smokers who completely disregard her right to breathe clean air.
There are still many adults who smoke cigarettes in the United States. About 1 in 4 adults in the U. S. smokes currently and between 50 and 67 percent of children under the age of 5 live in a household with someone who smokes. While secondhand smoke is proven to be a health hazard for everyone, infants and children are at a greater risk than anyone. ETS can cause damage to little lungs, hearts, and brains during their critical development stages. There is a whole host of problems with pregnant women who smoke such as decreased milk production, birth defects such as cleft lip and palate, and an association with neonatal death from SIDS, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Children who are exposed to ETS are proven to have decreased lung efficiency. ETS has been proven to increase the occurrence of asthma in exposed children and it should go without saying that asthmatic children who are exposed to ETS have much more severe asthma as a result of their exposure. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, ETS exposure causes 150,000 to 300,000 lower respiratory infections every year in children under 18 months of age. These infections include bronchitis and pneumonia, and account for up to 18,000 hospitalizations annually.
Ear infections are definitely linked to ETS. Children who live in homes where adults smoke have more frequent ear infections for longer durations than those who live in smoke-free homes. The smoke in the air irritates the Eustachian tubes which connect the back of the nose with the middle ear. This eventually leads to obstruction which does not allow the tubes to drain properly then pain, fluid buildup, and infection result.
Secondhand smoke causes cancer in not only children but adults also. According to the American Academy of Otolaryngology, ETS raises the risk of getting cancer over 100 times that of other environmental carcinogens. More than 3000 non-smokers die each year of lung cancer.
Clearly adults can choose what we want to do with our lives and with our bodies. If a situation is too smoky or intolerable for whatever reason we can remove ourselves. The children we are entrusted with to teach, love, and protect, however, cannot choose and should not be forced to be subjected to life-threatening carcinogenic substances. The next time you smoke in your car or in your house, consider those around you. Please don’t force our future leaders to smoke with you. Treat your body well.