How to make sure your child avoids smoking

THE number of 10 to 17-year-olds currently smoking fell from 18% to 12% from 2002 to 2010, according to the 2010 Irish Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) Survey.

Last week, UNICEF’s league table for child well-being in industrialised countries (Report Card 11 — Child well-being in rich countries) found almost 6% of Ireland’s 11, 13 and 15-year-olds smoke cigarettes at least once a week, better than more than 20 other countries.

Dr Ross Morgan, chairperson of Ash Ireland and a consultant respiratory physician in Beaumont Hospital, points out that over 80% of smokers start in their teenage years. And, with more than 5,000 people dying annually in Ireland from smoking-related illnesses, the tobacco industry is under growing pressure to find new consumers. An obvious market is the youth sector.

“We have to discourage children from taking up smoking,” says Dr Morgan. “We have to denormalise it. Children copy parents so the best thing a parent can do is not smoke or else quit.”

The World Health Organisation estimates half of the world’s children are exposed to tobacco smoke. In Ireland, with a ban on smoking in public places, children are most likely to be exposed to second-hand smoke in home or car.

“Evidence from environmental protection agencies is that levels of smoke particles in cars are phenomenally high — 20 times higher than they were inside a bar. Even if you open the windows, the air comes in — it doesn’t necessarily blow out what’s in the car, so concentration is still quite high,” warns Dr Morgan.

Parents who smoke in their children’s presence need to face some stark realities: Children’s lungs and other organs are still developing, plus kids breathe more rapidly – making them especially vulnerable to second-hand smoke. A landmark report in 2010 found passive smoking increased children’s risk of asthma, chest infection, middle ear infection, bacterial meningitis and sudden infant death syndrome. And kids exposed to second-hand smoke on a daily basis have triple the risk of getting lung cancer.

Adults can choose whether to enter a smoking environment — our children don’t. They need us to make healthy choices.