Passive smoking causes ‘irreversible harm’ to kids
A major international study made the claim on national No Smoking Day, backing up cross-party government views on the matter that have been repeatedly stated for over a decade.
New work published in the European Heart Journal based on examinations of thousands of children in Australia, Finland and Tasmania has found regularly being near someone when they smoke is having a devastating effect on children’s long-term health.
The research, the first to investigate the link between passive smoking in childhood and the thickening of two of the innermost arterial walls in later life, examined more than 2,700 children from the age of three until they turned 18.
As part of the long-term study, information on when parents smoked and if they made attempts to go outside or move to a different room when they did so was also requested, in addition to ultrasound tests on the children’s arterial walls once they reached adulthood.
At the age of 18, the arterial “carotid IMT” walls were significantly thicker in people exposed to passive smoking as children, with the research team concluding this meant parental cigarette addiction had aged their children’s blood vessels by an average of 3.3 years.
The results — which stood, even when other factors such as the children’s own smoking habits, body mass index, and cholesterol levels were taken into account — mean children subjected to repeated passive smoking are at far greater risk of developing serious heart and stroke problems.
“Our study shows exposure to passive smoke in childhood causes direct and irreversible damage to the structure of the arteries,” lead researcher Dr Seana Gall, of the University of Tasmania, explained. “Parents, or even those thinking about becoming parents, should quit smoking. This will not only restore their own health but also protect the health of their children into the future.”
Irish governments across the political spectrum have repeatedly emphasised the need to stamp out passive smoking for over a decade.
While people were allowed to smoke in bars, nightclubs and even cinemas in the recent past, since 2004 Ireland has outlawed any form of smoking in a workplace — unless it takes place in a designated smoking area.
Health Minister Dr James Reilly, who is an outspoken critic of the tobacco industry, wants this policy to include smoking bans in private cars carrying children and other areas in the near future — an issue that has sparked controversy.
The international research on the link between passive smoking and the development of serious health conditions as children grow older, which can be read at irishexaminer.com, came on the same day as the HSE launched the latest stage of its QUIT campaign.
As previously reported, the campaign includes posthumous adverts from lung cancer victim Gerry Collins, who passed away at the weekend, and the moving of the service’s number (1800-201-203) to a free-phone helpline.
