On the occasion of World No Tobacco Day, which is celebrated today, the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (AEP) starts a campaign that seeks to raise awareness among parents so that stop smoking in homes and vehicles.
And, as Dr. Juan Antonio Ortega, coordinator of the Environmental Health Committee of the AEP, has stressed, In Spain, half of the children live in environments with the presence of environmental tobacco smoke, a more harmful source than many of the air pollutants together. For this reason, pediatricians insist that you should not smoke in any room in the house or in the vehicle, even when children are not present.
Opening the window or closing the door is no use
There are parents who do it at home or in the car thought that the children will not be harmed, but Dr. Ortega warns that it is of no use:
“There are few parents who try to reduce their children's exposure to tobacco with ineffective measures such as smoking with the window open, the kitchen door closed or in remote spaces such as the storage room. However, they do not know that the smoke is very ubiquitous and persistent because it weighs more than the air and the particles remain impregnated on the surfaces, so that they are subsequently inhaled by children. ”
He also adds that the environmental smoke formed by the mixture of the smoke exhaled by the smoking parents and the smoke that comes from the combustion of the cigarette ember “is of a worse quality than that inhaled by the smoker himself, since it is a combustion slow in it concentrates a number of chemicals much greater than only in the mainstream ”.
In total, it contains 4,000 chemicals, and more than 40 of them carcinogenic. This smoke is a cause of cancer in non-smokers and increases and is associated with many childhood diseases.
“Children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of smoke, because of their height they are more exposed to pollutants and breathe more times per minute than an adult,” Dr. María José Mellado, president of the AEP.Stop smoking, for you and your children
Pediatrician recommendations for smoking parents are clear:
The first, give up smoking.
If they do not, avoid smoking inside the vehicle or home, even if children are not present.
The least harmful is that it is smoked in the street and, if you have a smock or smoker's clothing, it is necessary to take it off when entering the home or vehicle and washing your hands.
They also add:
"Tobacco modalities such as hookahs and electronic cigarettes are equally harmful and, therefore, should not be smoked in closed environments," warns Dr. Ortega.
Campaign “Homes and cars without smoke”: # Goodbye Tobacco
Among the actions that will be carried out in this campaign against tobacco consumption in private settings, pediatricians will be able to deliver a certificate in the queries that parents will have to sign in front of the child to promise to keep the home and vehicle smoke free.
"In addition, they will have to hang this document in a visible place to sensitize parents of the danger that this habit poses to the health of their children and remind them of the commitment they have made," says Dr. Ortega. Together with this certificate, a series of recommendations and a kit 'without bad fumes' will be delivered.
It is intended that smoking parents make a serious attempt to quit smoking, an act that Dr. Ortega believes will be "one in 10 parents."
