YOUTH & TOBACCO NEWS - U.S. Surgeon General Heads Initiative to Further Protect Children from Secondhand Smoke

October 4 , 2007

The U.S. Surgeon General, along with the Environmental Protection Agency, the American Academy of Pediatrics and Head Start, will work together on outreach efforts to educate parents, particularly minorities and those of lower socio-economic status, about the dangers of exposing their children to secondhand smoke.  The goal of the campaign is to decrease the share of children ages 6 and below who are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke to 6 percent, down from 8 percent in 2005 and 20 percent in 1998.  While smoke-free laws have contributed to lower exposure to secondhand smoke, children of smokers are not protected in the home from those dangers, which contribute to children’s increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome, lower respiratory infections, middle ear disease, more severe asthma, and slowed lung growth.

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