Secondhand smoke: Don’t let it fool you
The damage that secondhand smoke causes is well known in scientific circles. But few parents are aware of the damage it can do to their children.
Like tobacco products, secondhand smoke is known to cause cancer. Along with cigarettes, it is a Group A carcinogen. Children exposed to secondhand smoke run the same risks as smokers of getting cancer or dying prematurely. In fact, nearly 50,000 nonsmokers in the U.S. get heart disease from being exposed to secondhand smoke each year.
Even if you keep your child away from public places where secondhand smoke is present, your child is still at risk. The chemicals in the smoke can linger long after the cigarette, pipe or cigar has been extinguished. And these chemicals read like a “Who’s Who” of carcinogens: formaldehyde, benzene, arsenic, ammonia, vinyl chloride and hydrogen cyanide.
Young lungs are particularly susceptible to these compounds, since the immune system is unable to battle such damaging substances. Often, a child will show signs of a respiratory infection or asthma as the first indicator. From there, other adverse health effects can develop, including cancer, even if the child lives with nonsmoking parents.
According to estimates, 50% to 75% of all children in the U.S. have detectable levels of cotinine, the breakdown product of nicotine, in the blood. The California Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 150,000 to 300,000 children under the age of 18 months are treated for respiratory tract infections annually because of secondhand smoke.
Unfortunately, the only remedy to lowering your exposure is to legislate nonsmoking public places. Even short exposure to secondhand smoke can cause blood platelets to become stickier, which damages the lining of the blood vessels and can lead to heart rate variability. This, of course, can lead to a significant increase in the risk of heart attack.
