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Passive Smoking

If you are a smoker, and you smoke around the house, in your car or anywhere around your children, it is very likely that your children are also smoking. This is because your child also breathes the smoke from your cigarette. This type of smoking known as passive smoking or breathing second-hand smoke.

Children can be exposed to tobacco smoke before or after birth:

when the mother smokes during pregnancy
when the pregnant mother breathes in cigarette smoke while she is around a smoker
when a family member, relative or family friend smokes around the child.

Cigarette smoke contains more than 4000 chemicals. Over 50 of these chemicals cause cancers. Since children's bodies are smaller and their lungs not fully mature, sigarette smoke causes more harm to them than adults.

Diseases caused by passive smoking

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)

Cigarette smoke irritates airways and causes respiratory infection. Exposure to cigarette smoke can also prevent the baby from reacting to lack of oxygen in the air (hypoxia). These factors can cause the child to die suddenly.

Acute and chronic middle ear disease

Cigarettes smoking may contribute to middle ear disease by decreasing the ability of the ear to clean its mucus, thus causing the middle ear to swell.

Reduced lung growth

When exposed to cigarette smoke, lung tissue growth is reduced. This can impair the ability of the lungs to function properly.

Acute Respiratory Illnesses (ARI)

Particles in cigarette smoke are small and can pass through the airways and enter the soft lung tissues causing acute respiratory diseases.

Asthma

Smoking during pregnancy affects the fetus's lung growth and function. In young children, exposure to cigarette smoke increases the risk of getting asthma.

Chronic respiratory diseases

Exposure to cigarette smoke increases the risk of coughs, phlegm and wheezing in children. This can lead to recurrent and chronic chest infections or bronchitis.

Other Effects of Exposure to Cigarette Smoke EYES Reddening, itching and watery. NOSE Congestion (stuffy nose) and sneezing. THROAT Itching, Cough and sore throat.	PRECAUTIONS If you are pregnant and you smoke, then give up smoking. keep away from people who smoke around you. Breathing in other people's smoke can harm your unborn baby as well.
PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN
If you have to smoke, do not smoke around the house and your children.	Consider quitting if you are a smoker. Apart from protecting your child's health, you will also improve your health, save money and prevent problems related to smoking in future.
Ask your visitors not to smoke around your house and children.	How you can discourage your children from starting to smoke: Don't ask children to buy cigarettes for you or fetch your ashtray Never let them try a puff of your cigarette Tell them you wish you'd never started smoking Say that you want to stop one day and that you don't want them to start.
Ensure that ashtrays, cigarette butts are kept away from the reach of children to prevent them from inhaling or eating them.
Avoid taking your children to places where people smoke
When someone lights a cigarette, he/she only breathes in 15% of the smoke. The rest 85% becomes second-hand smoke. Thus other people get exposed to unfiltered cigarettes smoke even if they do not smoke themselves.

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Contact Us:
Ministry of Health P.O. Box 2223, Government Bldgs Suva, Fiji
Dinem House, Toorak, Suva Ph.(679) 330 6177 Fax(679) 330 6163
Email: info@health.gov.fj

Passive Smoking

Diseases caused by passive smoking

Other Effects of Exposure to Cigarette Smoke

PRECAUTIONS

PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN