Following the success of its Breath Easy Week, the British Lung Foundation Wales has contributed a post to our blog.
The British Lung Foundation Wales is leading the fight against lung disease. It supports people affected by lung disease, so that no one has to face it alone. It promotes greater understanding of lung disease and we campaign for change in the nation’s lung health and funds vital research so that new treatments and cures can help save lives.
“The particular harm that passive smoke causes to children’s health is well documented. Although members of the public are protected by smoke-free legislation on public transport and in work vehicles, large numbers of children remain exposed to high concentrations of second-hand smoke when confined in family cars. Indeed, the latest HBSC survey found that 20% of Welsh children aged 11-16 report exposure to smoke in cars.
Smoking near children can cause a range of respiratory illnesses such as asthma, bronchitis and reduced lung function. Passive smoking results each year amongst children in more than 165,000 new episodes of disease of all types, 300,000 primary care consultations, 9,500 hospital admissions and around 40 sudden infant deaths.
Children and young people are also affected by witnessing smoking as a normal adult behaviour. Evidence suggests that children exposed to second-hand smoke in places other than the home are more likely to start smoking than those not exposed, and children exposed to a high degree of second-hand smoke in vehicles have been found to exhibit symptoms of nicotine dependence.
More generally, the Royal College of Physicians has found that children who grow up with smoking parents or siblings are around 90% more likely to become smokers themselves. 23,000 young people in England and Wales start smoking by the age of 15 each year as a result of domestic exposure to smoking.
Toxicity levels in cars
A number of studies have examined the effect of smoking on toxicity levels within cars in a variety of scenarios (e.g. windows open and shut, air conditioning on and off, vehicle stationary and in motion), with largely comparable results.
Research from the University of Waterloo found that a single cigarette smoked in a moving car with the window half open exposes a child in the centre of the back seat to around two thirds as much second-hand smoke as in an average smoke-filled pub. Levels increase to over eleven times those of a smoky pub when the cigarette is smoked in a stationary car with the windows closed.
Children’s attitudes to exposure to cigarette smoke in cars
British Lung Foundation and Transaction Network Services survey data suggests that many children feel unable to influence the smoking behaviour of adults around them. For example, 31% of children aged 8 to 15 who had been exposed to second-hand smoke in the car reported having asked the smoker to stop, with 34% not asking because they were either too frightened or embarrassed.
The same survey found alarming results when children were asked to describe how they felt when adults smoked around them with 58% reporting that it made them smell of smoke, 49% said it made them feel sick and 44% said it made them cough. A mere 7% of children surveyed said that it did not bother them when adults smoked around them.”
“Tobacco and Health in Wales” Public Health Wales Observatory, June 2012 Passive smoking and children: A report by the Tobacco Advisory Group. Royal College of Physicians, 2010.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Exposure to second- hand smoke among students aged 13–15 years – worldwide, 2000– 2007”. Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2007; 56: 497–500
Bélanger, O’Loughlin, Okoli, et al. “Nicotine dependence symptoms among young never-smokers exposed to secondhand tobacco smoke”. Addict Behav2008; 33: 1557–1563 Passive smoking and children: A report by the Tobacco Advisory Group. Royal College of Physicians, 2010
Sendzik, Fong, Travers, Hyland. “An experimental investigation of tobacco smoke pollution in cars”. Nicotine Tob Res, 2009; 11(6):627-34