Smoking directly affects the health of adult users, leading to significantly increased risks for the development of ailments such as emphysema, heart disease and several forms of cancer. Through secondhand exposure, children of smokers also experience a wide range of adverse health effects, including increased risks for the development of ailments such as asthma, lung and ear infections and premature death.
Secondhand Smoke
Secondhand smoke is a term used to describe the combination of smoke exhaled by a smoker and smoke from the burning end of a cigarette or other tobacco product, according to the National Cancer Institute, or NCI. By smoking in the presence of your child or placing your child in an environment where smoking occurs, you expose him to a minimum of 250 harmful chemicals, 50 of which cause cancer. Examples of these chemicals include cadmium, chromium, benzene, arsenic, vinyl chloride, nickel and polonium-210.
Child Susceptibility
Children are more susceptible to secondhand smoke than adults, according to the American Cancer Society, or ACS. Roughly 35 percent of children in the U.S. are regularly exposed to tobacco smoke in their homes, and between 50 and 75 percent have some amount of a nicotine breakdown product called cotinine in their bloodstreams. In addition to any direct health impacts, exposing your child to secondhand smoke can lead to life impacts that include increased health expenses and lost school time.
Disease Effects
Each year, secondhand smoke causes 50,000 to 300,000 cases of lungs infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia in children under the age of 18 months, the ACS reports. Between 7,500 and 15,000 of these cases result in hospitalization. Secondhand smoke also raises the severity and frequency of attacks in roughly 200,000 to 1 million children who have some form of asthma, in addition to triggering over 750,000 middle ear infections. In addition, secondhand smoke exposure increases your child's risks for sudden infant death syndrome, or SIDS, and slows normal lung growth. If you smoke while pregnant or are exposed to secondhand smoke, you have an increased chance of delivering a child with an abnormally low birth weight.
Cancer Risks
Secondhand smoke raises lung cancer risks in adult nonsmokers by roughly 20 to 30 percent, according to the U.S. Surgeon General's office. In addition, roughly 3,000 nonsmokers die of smoke-related lung cancer each year. Secondhand smoke may also increase your child's risks for developing cancers such as brain tumors, leukemia and lymphoma, the NCI reports. However, additional research is needed to solidify these preliminary findings.
Considerations
You cannot safely expose your child to secondhand smoke, the NCI explains. Even at low levels, it can produce clear health dangers. As a result, the only way to avoid potential impacts on your child's health is to completely eliminate smoking from your child's daily environment, including your home. Both the ACS and the NCI support laws that limit public smoking and decrease children's exposure to secondhand smoke. Despite the known health risks, nine out 10 smokers begin using tobacco products before the age of 18, the Nemours Foundation reports.
