WORLD CANCER CAMPAIGN
English
key messages for decision makers

Policies and interventions for a smoke-free childhood (*)

poster_kids3_eng.jpg
Only 100% smoke-free environments protect your
children and family from the very serious health
problems that breathing second-hand smoke causes.
Do not allow anyone to smoke in your home.
Demand that all indoor public places be 100%
smoke-free.
  • 700 million children are unnecessarily exposed to second-hand smoke (SHS) (1); governments and the public should take all steps necessary to protect them from this exposure.
  • Children can be fully protected against inhaling SHS by implementing 100% smoke-free environments in the places they spend their time including public places, homes, vehicles, and childcare settings and schools (2).
  • Air cleaning and increased ventilation are not satisfactory approaches to protect against SHS exposure (2).

Public places

  • Smoke-free policies that prohibit smoking in public places and workplaces protect children from exposure to SHS outside the home.
  • People support bans on smoking in public places; over 70% of students' surveyed worldwide support a ban on smoking in public places (3).
  • Smoke-free public places and workplaces motivate some smokers to quit smoking (4-6) and encourage some families to implement smoke-free policies in their homes (7).

Homes

  • The home is the main location where children spend time with parents and other adults who may be smokers and is the major place where SHS exposure takes place (8, 2).
  • The only method to fully protect children and non-smokers from SHS exposure at home is to make the home 100% smoke-free (2).
  • Homes are generally considered beyond the reach of government regulation, leaving children reliant on household members to voluntarily adopt home smoking restrictions to protect them from SHS exposure.
  • The rise in voluntary smoke-free home rules in some countries is an indicator of changing public attitudes regarding the acceptability of smoking (2).
  • Survey data from countries around the world show that smokers and non-smokers support smoking bans in the home (9, 10).
  • Throughout the world, children continue to be exposed to SHS in their homes; efforts are needed to increase the prevalence of home smoking bans to ensure all children have a safe smoke-free environment in which to live and play.

Vehicles

  • Smoking in vehicles raises the concentration of SHS in the vehicle to alarming levels, with levels of small particles well above outdoor air standards and comparable to levels found in bars that allow smoking (11, 12).
  • Recently, countries, cities, and states around the world have begun to implement or explore the possibility of implementing legislation that bans smoking in vehicles carrying children.
  • The majority of jurisdictions, however, do not have legislation, leaving children reliant on adults to voluntarily refrain from smoking in vehicles for protection from SHS.
  • Surveys indicate that support for bans on smoking in vehicles carrying children is high, even among smokers (13-15).

Child care

  • Some countries, cities and states already prohibit smoking in child-care facilities and schools (16-18); all others should do so.
  • Children living in countries without laws to prohibit smoking in child-care facilities and schools remain unprotected from SHS exposure.
  • The 2001 Social Climate Survey of Tobacco Control found that almost all smokers (97.9%) and non-smokers (98.9%) surveyed agreed that smoking should not be allowed in childcare centers (19).

Interventions

  • Educating parents can motivate smoking cessation or reduction in smoking in the home.
  • Many public health and tobacco control organizations around the world run educational programmes aimed at reducing children's second-hand smoke exposure in the home and vehicle.

General Recommendations

  • All governments should have legislation to ban smoking in all public places, creating 100% smoke-free environments.
  • All governments should have legislation to ban smoking of tobacco products in vehicles carrying children.
  • All governments should have laws that require all educational, school, and childcare facilities are 100% smoke-free, completely banning smoking in these facilities
  • Educational campaigns should be created to inform individuals about the dangers of SHS exposure in children and the importance of the home as an environment of exposure, and to encourage individuals to make their homes smoke-free.
  • Health warnings on tobacco packages describing the dangers of SHS exposure in children should be utilized to complement educational campaigns (20).
  • Healthcare providers should inquire about tobacco use in the home, counsel and educate parents and guardians on the adverse health effects of SHS exposure and provide guidance on means of smoking cessation (21)
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References

1) World Health Organization. International Consultation on Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) and Child Health. Consultation Report. 1999. Geneva, World Health Organization.

2) US Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS). The health effects of involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke. 2006. Rockville, MD, US Department of Health and Human Services (USDHHS); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

3) Anonymous. A cross country comparison of exposure to secondhand smoke among youth. Tob Control 2006; 15 Suppl 2:ii4-19.

4) Fichtenberg CM, Glantz SA. Effect of smoke-free workplaces on smoking behaviour: systematic review. Br Med J 2002; 325(7357):188-194.

5) Borland R, Yong HH, Cummings KM, Hyland A, Anderson S, Fong GT. Determinants and consequences of smoke-free homes: findings from the International Tobacco Control (ITC) Four Country Survey. Tob Control 2006; 15 Suppl 3:iii42-iii50.

6) Fong GT, Hyland A, Borland R, Hammond D, Hastings G, McNeill A et al. Reductions in tobacco smoke pollution and increases in support for smoke-free public places following the implementation of comprehensive smoke-free workplace legislation in the Republic of Ireland: findings from the ITC Ireland/UK Survey. Tob Control 2006; 15 Suppl 3:iii51-iii58.

7) Merom D, Rissel C. Factors associated with smoke-free homes in NSW: results from the 1998 NSW Health Survey. Aust N Z J Public Health 2001; 25(4):339-345.

8) Klepeis NE, Nelson WC, Ott WR, Robinson JP, Tsang AM, Switzer P et al. The National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS): a resource for assessing exposure to environmental pollutants. J Expo Anal Environ Epidemiol 2001; 11(3):231-252.

9) Ashley MJ, Cohen J, Ferrence R, Bull S, Bondy S, Poland B et al. Smoking in the home: changing attitudes and current practices. Am J Public Health 1998; 88(5):797-800.

10) Lund KE, Helgason AR. Environmental tobacco smoke in Norwegian homes, 1995 and 2001: changes in children's exposure and parents attitudes and health risk awareness. Eur J Public Health 2005; 15(2):123-127.

11)Ott W, Klepeis N, Switzer P. Air change rates of motor vehicles and in-vehicle pollutant concentrations from secondhand smoke. Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology 2007;1-14.

12)Rees VW, Connolly GN. Measuring air quality to protect children from secondhand smoke in cars. Am J Prev Med 2006; 31(5):363-368.

13)Ontario Tobacco Research Unit (OTRU), Ference R, Timmerman T, Ashley MJ, Northrup D, Brewster J et al. Secondhand smoke in Ontario homes: Findings from a national study. Ontario Tobacco Research Unit . 2005. Toronto, Ontario Tobacco Research Unit.

14)Quit Victoria. Quit Victoria calls for state-wide ban on smoking in cars with children, with new data showing overwhelming community support . Quit Victoria . 7-25-2007. http://www.quit.org.au/media.asp?ContentID=23263 (accessed 11/12/2007).

15) Walsh R, Tzelepis F, Paul C, McKenzie JP. Environmental tobacco smoke in homes, motor vehicles and licensed premises: community attitudes and practices. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health 2002; 26(6):536-542.

16)American Lung Association. State legislated actions on tobacco issues (SLATI) 2006 report. 2007. Washington, DC, American Lung Association.

17)Ontario Medical Association, Gosevitz R, Boadway T. The duty to protect: Eliminating second-hand smoke from public places and workplaces in Ontario. 2003.

18)European Public Health Alliance. European smoking bans - Evolution of the legislation. European Public Health Alliance . 2007. http://www.epha.org/a/1941 (accessed 11/13/12007).

19)McMillen RC, Winickoff JP, Klein JD, Weitzman M. US adult attitudes and practices regarding smoking restrictions and child exposure to environmental tobacco smoke: changes in the social climate from 2000-2001. Pediatrics 2003; 112(1 Pt 1):e55-e60.

20) World Health Organization. Protection from exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke. Policy recommendations. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2007.

21) Environmental tobacco smoke: a hazard to children. American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Environmental Health. Pediatrics 1997; 99(4):639-642.

(*)This fact sheet was prepared by Dr Jonathan Samet and Ms Margaret Hawthorne of the Institute for Global Tobacco Control, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (USA), a key UICC partner.

 

 
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