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Protecting Children at Home from the Smoke

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John (Gold)	Protecting Children at Home from the Smoke		Lead	[-]
08/02/03 05:16	Tags : None Smoking half measures useless BBC News World Edition August 1, 2003 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3113367.stm Opening a window or wafting away smoke do nothing to reduce children's exposure to tobacco, researchers have found. Opening a window does not reduce tobacco exposure Only banning smoking inside the home altogether has any significant effect. Public health advocates say parents need to be told they can protect their children from the effects of passive smoking, even if they cannot quit altogether. Researchers from the University of Warwick interviewed parents from 314 households who smoked and had young children. They were asked what they knew about the effect of tobacco exposure on a child's health, and what they did to minimise that exposure. Options included opening a window, not smoking in the same room as a child and using a fan or an air freshener. The scientists then measured levels of cotinine, a by-product of nicotine, in the urine of the children. 'No effect' Over 80% of parents believed that environmental tobacco smoke is harmful and 90% believed that infants can be protected from it in the home. Only one in 10 parents did not know any ways to reduce exposure. More than half tried to reduce exposure in more than one way. But less than a fifth had banned smoking in the home altogether. This was the only action linked to reduced exposure to tobacco smoke and a significant reduction of cotinine levels. But less strict measures had no effect, the researchers said, adding that their findings need to be verified in larger studies. 'Encouraging' Nick Spencer, professor of child health at the University of Warwick, told BBC News Online: "We were pleasantly surprised that a large proportion of parents were saying that they did take measures to reduce their children's exposure to tobacco smoke. "But what we were concerned about was the extent to which was the examination of less strict measures, which we're really not sure had an effect. "It was no different to doing nothing at all." Professor Spencer said the research showed parents could protect children from the effects of tobacco smoke without giving up cigarettes altogether. Amanda Sandford, of the campaign group Action on Smoking and Health, said: "We're very encouraged that there was a high awareness of the health risks of passive smoking. "But the problem is the big gulf between parents' knowledge and actually translating that into behaviour. "What public health advocates really have to do is increase the level of awareness amongst people, particularly parents, of the dangers of passive smoking." The research is published in the British Medical Journal. Copyright BBC 2003 - All Rights Reserved Link to Free Full Text of Study http://bmj.com/cgi/content/full/327/7409/257 BMJ 2003;327:257 (2 August, 2003) Effect of strategies to reduce exposure of infants to environmental tobacco smoke in the home: cross sectional survey **Clare Blackburn, senior lecturer, Nick Spencer,** professor of child health, Sheila Bonas, lecturer in health psychology, Christine Coe, research fellow, Alan Dolan, lecturer, Rob Moy, senior lecturer in community paediatrics ¹ School of Health and Social Studies, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, ² Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 6TP, ³ Institute of Child Health, Birmingham Children's Hospital, Birmingham Correspondence to: C Blackburn c.m.blackburn@warwick.ac.uk Objective To examine parents' reported knowledge and use of harm reduction strategies to protect their infants from exposure to tobacco smoke in the home, and the relation between reported use of strategies and urinary cotinine to creatinine ratios in the infants. Design Cross sectional survey. Settings Coventry and Birmingham. Main outcome measures Parents' reported knowledge and use of harm reduction strategies and urinary cotinine to creatinine ratios in their infants. Participants 314 smoking households with infants. Results 86% of parents (264/307) believed that environmental tobacco smoke is harmful, 90% (281/314) believed that infants can be protected from it in the home, and 10% (32/314) were either unaware of measures or reported using none. 65% of parents (205/314) reported using two or more measures, but only 18% (58/314) reported not allowing smoking in the home. No difference was found in mean log e transformed urinary cotinine to creatinine ratio in infants from households that used no measures compared with households that used less strict measures. Mean log cotinine to creatinine ratios were significantly different in households banning smoking in the home compared with those using less strict or no measures. Banning smoking in the home was independently associated with a significant reduction in urinary cotinine to creatinine ratio by a factor of 2.6 (1.6 to 4.2) after adjustment for average household cigarette consumption, tenure, and overcrowding. Conclusions Less than a fifth of parents in smoking households ban smoking in the home. Banning smoking was associated with a small but significant reduction in urinary cotinine to creatinine ratio in infants, whereas less strict measures compared with no measures had no effect on the infants' exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. ^{Link to Above Abstract http://bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/327/7409/257}
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Shinelady Gold3282003	Protecting Children at Home from the Smoke	#1	[url]	[-]
08/02/03 06:00	John, This one hits close to home with me... While I have no real facts or concrete proof, I do have common sense. My oldest son had to be hospitalized at age 2 months due to respiratory problems and spasmodic croup. He was placed in an oxygen tent and it was a scary picture. He survived and is here today , but he has lived a life of reocurring respiratory illnesses...repeatedly we have had to take him to the doctor and emergency room due to respiratory illnesses. My youngest son is only 22 , but has had pneumonia twice and has a history of respiratory illnessess also. ....... Aside from them, my pet dog would constantly rub her eyes and her nose dripped.... she died of cancer at age 8......... I have to wonder or do I.... Is this all a coincedence or did my husband and I with our nearly 3 pack a day , in the home habit contribute to any of this or even possibly cause it.... What do you think ? My husband lost a lung to cancer and I have emphysema.... I don't think it takes our resident rocket scientist (love ya Bill W) to figure this one out.......... Great article John.... I will never take another puff!!!! Love you John and all that have taught me to take responsibility for my actions.... yqs, sue Sue - Free and Healing for Four Months, Four Days, 4 Hours and 4 Minutes, while extending my life expectancy 17 Days and 12 Hours, by avoiding the use of 5047 nicotine delivery devices that would have cost me $733.06.
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John (Gold)	Protecting Children at Home from the Smoke	#2	[url]	[-]
08/02/03 06:48	You're not alone, Sue, as I too forced two little angles to breathe my lingering cloud of smoke, even while sleeping, and it's not a pleasant thought at all. And yes, I lost my first cocker, Billy, to lymphoma cancer at age five and I've sense read the animal study abstracts and although God may forgive me, I can't. The girls both seem to be doing fine, in fact the oldest starts medical school this fall and will hopefully soon be filling in a few more of the massive gaps in my health understanding. I know that Billy knows I still love him and if I did contribute to shortening his life, I hope he knows I'm so so sorry. You're right, Sue, it's too close to home. Exposing Children to Secondhand Smoke Sudden Infant Death Syndrome & Smoking Secondhand Smoke and Pet Cancer EPA Begins Smoke Free Homes Campaign Smoking: A baby's view Last Edited By: FreedomNicotine 02/16/09 09:55. Edited 1 time.
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John (Gold)	Protecting Children at Home from the Smoke	#3	[url]	[-]
10/13/04 05:24	The above ad appears in the September 27, 2004 edition of Sports Illustrated. Contrast one aspect of the marketing message now being sent by R.J.R - smoking in cars - with the below story. Smoking at the Wheel - the Dangers Are Very Real Source: Irish Times Publication date: 2004-09-15 "Smoking in the car is different to smoking in a room because once the windows are down the smoke goes out," says Henry Barry (31) from Cork. Henry doesn't drive himself but says that when he is travelling with his partner, she doesn't mind him smoking once a window is left open. "And I only smoke on long journeys," he says. The general perception of smoking in cars seems to be that, once a window is open and the smoker takes care to smoke out the window, it doesn't do much damage to anybody aside from the smoker. However, Dr Fenton Howell, a GP from Drogheda, is quick to dispel this myth. "A bit of common sense is needed here," he says. "The truth is that smoke doesn't just go straight out of the window. When the car is moving, the air is blowing back into the car and so the smoke circulates around." If it's raining or cold, says Howell, people don't keep their windows open - "but even if they did it's not a solution to the problem." The damage caused by passive smoking, particularly to children, must not be underestimated, he says. A recent survey by Ital's tobacco control unit suggests that cigarette smoke produces 10 times more air pollution than diesel exhaust. According to Howell, children are all too frequently the principle victims of passive smoking in cars simply because they have no choice and are effectively a "captive audience". "You see it now already in the first few weeks of term time - parents driving with cars full of children and subjecting them to cigarette smoke. It's very irresponsible. "For children and young people, it increases the risk of them developing asthma as well as other respiratory infections. The younger the children, the more damage done." One motorist, Ms Noreen Flynn, from Castlerea, Co Roscommon, says she is well aware of the negative effects of passive smoking. "I don't smoke in the car if there is a baby in it or if I'm carrying people who have asthma or other problems - but I'd still smoke if there are older kids." However, she says, it's only in recent years that smokers have developed this awareness. "Before I would have smoked all the time in the car because the dangers of passive smoking hadn't really been highlighted. You just didn't think about how it affected anyone." While the smoking ban has made some smokers more thoughtful, this doesn't apply across the board. Ger Flynn (32), from Waterford, says that he never smokes when his father or sister are in the car, but if it's a hitch-hiker it's a different story. "I figure if they want to get a lift in my car they have to take what comes with it," he says. "If they didn't like smoking, I'd give them the option of getting out." For some, the car has become a sort of smoking sanctuary. Gary Byrne (29), from Donnycarney, Dublin, says that, when it's raining at work, he smokes in the car. Another smoker who was unwilling to disclose her identity says: "Often when I get into the car, I've just been somewhere where I can't smoke, so I'm dying for one." According to Dr Howell, the negative effects of smoking in cars are simply too significant to ignore. It's not just the smoke that's an issue. The movements involved in smoking distract drivers," he says, "and you increase the risk of an accident. If you must smoke, have one before getting into the car or after getting out of it." Publication date: 2004-09-15 Story Online Source: http://brownw.newsreal.co...ory.nsp?story_id=57065934 © 2004, YellowBrix, Inc. Last Edited By: FreedomNicotine 02/16/09 09:57. Edited 1 time.
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