Secondhand smoke and health

By MICHELLE INGLE, Kootasca Head Start

While everyone knows that smoking is bad for the smoker, many people don’t think about the effects that smoking indoors can have on children and other family members.
Not only should people not smoke in their homes, they should also not smoke in their cars. The following is some information from the United States Environmental Protection Agency:
• Breathing smoke from someone else’s pipe, cigar or cigarette can make you and your children sick.
• Children who live in homes where people smoke get sick more often with coughs, breathing problems and ear infections.
• Secondhand smoke is linked to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
• Smoking inside cars and houses is more dangerous because the smoke gets trapped inside. Fans and open windows do not help.
• People that breathe secondhand smoke are more likely to develop heart disease and lung cancer.
There are ways to protect your family. If you smoke, you should quit. Your doctor has ways to help you stop smoking. There are many different methods that can aid in the quitting process.
If you do continue to smoke, do not smoke inside your car or home. Do not let friends and family members smoke inside your home, either. There is nothing wrong about telling people that they need to go outside if they are going to light up.
Visit the U.S. EPA’s Web site, www.epa.gov/smokefree, or call 1-800-SMOKE-FREE (800-766-5337), for more information. People may go to this site and take a smoke-free home and car pledge. Once you take the pledge, you can receive a smoke-free home kit.
With all of the dangers that face our children today, this is one area that parents can protect their children and have control over.