Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/ask-dr.-sue-second-hand-smoke-and-climbing-equipment-hazards/5010536/
Second-Hand SmokeAll child care programs can help protect children from exposure to tobacco smoke both in child care and at home. Few child care facilities allow smoking in the presence of children, but some allow smoking in designated areas. Smoke easily drifts into the breathing space of nonsmokers, indoors and outdoors. In addition to making child care settings smoke-free, child care providers can discourage tobacco use wherever children spend time.
Tobacco smoke is a potent poison for children. Children of mothers who smoked ten or more cigarettes per day during pregnancy have significantly lower scores on IQ tests than those whose mothers did not smoke. Over the past few years, early childhood educators, pediatricians, and the press have talked about how participation in child care increases the incidence of respiratory disease among young children. Exposure of infants and children to environmental tobacco smoke equals and adds directly to the risk of infection from participation in group care.
Doctors are starting to ask parents whose children have frequent illnesses whether the children are exposed to tobacco smoke. Children who are exposed to tobacco smoke have more upper respiratory tract infections, middle-ear fluid, snoring, asthma, and lower respiratory ...