Tobacco and Your Child - An Article Written by Peter I. Liber, MD

 Tobacco and Your Child - An Article written by Peter I. Liber, MD

Tobacco and Your Child

An article written by Peter I. Liber, MD

                Nicotine in tobacco is highly addictive.  Smoking harms every organ of the body.  Cigarette smokers have an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and chronic lung disease.  Cigarette smoke contains many cancer-producing substances including arsenic, acetone, hydrogen cyanide, radon, cadmium. The cancers associated with smoking include: lung, bladder, cervical, esophageal, kidney, larynx, mouth, pancreatic, throat and stomach.

                About 80% of adult smokers start as teenagers.  Almost 20% of high school students smoke.  About 10% use smokeless tobacco such as chewing tobacco and snuff.  Smokeless tobacco products such as, melt away tobacco strips and e-cigarettes have become adolescents' gateway to cigarette smoking.  Teens often feel these products are "safer" than cigarettes but they are not.  How do motivate a teen not to start or to quit?  Appeal to their vanity to start- bad breath, stained teeth, cough and poor exercise tolerance are all consequences to smoking.

Parents should talk with their children about the dangers of tobacco.  Give them the facts, set clear rules and be prepared to answer questions.  A parent can help develop strategies on how to say "no". Visit   www.cdc.gov/tobacco for good information.  An excellent web site to help teens stop using tobacco or not start is www.teen.smokefree.gov.

                Many children are exposed to second hand smoke (SHS).  SHS exposure greatly increases risk of hospitalization due to lower respiratory infection and ear infections.  Infants experience an increased risk in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Parents and grandparents who smoke cigarettes can immediately improve the short and long term health of the children in their lives by quitting.  1-800-QUIT-NOW is a free telephone support service that can help those who want to stop smoking or using tobacco.  Experienced counselors provide personalized plans, coping strategies, even may be able to help procure medications needed to help quit.

                My opinion echoes the American Academy of Pediatrics' latest policy statement: (1) there is no safe way to use tobacco; (2) there is no safe level or duration of exposure to SHS.