More handpicked essays just for you.
Essay smoking effects on children
Harmful effects of secondhand smoke - literature review
Literature review on the harmful effects of secondhand smoke
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
This paper will discuss the effects of Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) or known as Second Hand Smoke (SHM) among children. In addition, it will focuses on the how ETS becomes a problem for Children in American household as well as in other well developed nations. It will describe the effects that has among children living in contaminated environment by Second Hand Smoke. One of the health effects can be Asthma, which is provoked by their parents who smoke in their vicinity. Furthermore, there will be a discussion where as a public health practitioner trying to improve the health of these children and to educate their parents to lessen their cigarette consumption near children.
First of all, I would like to define Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS). According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, it describes that ETS consist in the burning end of a cigarette, cigar or pipe and someone else inhales the smoke, also known as Second Hand Smoke (SHS). (U.S. EPA, 2011) In addition, the smoke of this cigars consist in approximately 4,000 substances which over the time scientist have detected that by inhaling it causes cancer. (U.S EPA, 2011) also, ETS it’s classified as class I carcinogen by the Internal Agency for Research on Cancer (Cobanoglu et al., 2007). Having the definition of Environmental Tobacco Smoke, let’s apply the terminology to children. If a grown person has a high risk of develop cancer or any type of respiratory disease. Does children have higher risk of developing respiratory disease?
Children face a very high percentage of developing respiratory disease such as asthma when they live in the vicinity of a smoker. One of the reasons for children’s developing this problem comes from their parents. T...
... middle of paper ...
...Jorgensen, T., Glumer, C. 2012, Social Disparities in Children’s Exposure to Second hand Smoke at Home: a Repeated Cross-Sectional Survey, Environ Health 11:65
Rogers, J. 2009, Tobacco and Pregnancy, Reprod Toxicol, 28, 152-160
Tung, K.Y., Wu, K. Y., Tsai, C.H., Su, M.W., Chen, C.H., Lin, M.H., Chen, Y.C., Wu, W.C., Lee, Y.L. 2012, Association of Time-Location Patterns with Urinary Cotinine among Asthmatic Children under Household Environmental Tobacco Smoke Exposure, Environ Res, 124, 7-12
U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Health Effects of Exposure to Secondhand Smoke, November, 2011. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/smokefree/healtheffects.html
Bloomberg, Chris Dolmetsch, N.Y. State Parks Outdoor Smoking Ban Is Blocked by Court
October 11, 2013. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-11/new-york-state-parks-outdoor-smoking-ban-blocked.html
Smoking has became a major issue everywhere in the world. The effects of cigarette smoking can be really terrifying as smoking is dangerous not only to those who smoke but as well as the non-smokers. Tobacco from a cigarette contains nicotine, which is a highly addictive drug that makes it difficult for the smokers to stop smoking. (MentalHelp, 2005). They are not only physically addicted to nicotine but they also link smoking with many social activities which makes it hard to stop (American Lung Association, 2014). Smoking is a habit that causes many health implications that could lead to death (American Lung Association, 2014). Most of the smokers started smoking regularly at a young age even though there are various anti-smoking campaigns being run. (American Lung Association, 2014). Most teenagers start smoking because they are being exposed under friends and family members who smoke. They tend to be curious and say that they just wanted to try it or teenagers started smoking because they thought it was cool to do so (American Cancer Society, 2014). Quitting smoking requires seve...
US Enviromental Protection Agency. (2010, December 13). Retrieved January 20, 2011, from US EPA Human Health: http://cfpub.epa.gov/eroe/index.cfm?fuseaction=list.listByChapter&ch=49
Imagine a young child competing with his or her fellow classmates during recess and immediately losing the ability to breathe normally. He or she stops in the middle of the competition and falls to the ground while holding his or her chest trying to find air. When you are young, being able to keep up with your peers during recess and sporting events is very important, however, having asthma restricts this. Asthma has a significant impact on childhood development and the diagnosis of asthma for children 18 years and younger has dramatically increased over the years. Asthma is known as a “chronic inflammation of the small and large airways” with “evident bronchial hyper-responsiveness, airflow obstruction, and in some patients, sub-basement fibrosis and over-secretion of mucus” (Toole, 2013). The constant recreation of the lung walls can even occur in young children and “lead to permanent lung damages and reduced lung function” (Toole, 2013). While one of the factors is genetics, many of the following can be prevented or managed. Obesity, exposure to secondhand smoke, and hospitalization with pneumonia in the early years of life have all been suggested to increase children’s risk of developing asthma.
Cigarette smoke can be considered a teratogen that is environmentally, behaviorally, and maternally induced. Cigarette smoke has long been known to have teratogenic effects on developing fetuses. Warning labels regarding the dangers of smoking to fetuses have appeared on cigarette packs since 1985 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012). Mothers can expose their babies to cigarette smoke and the chemicals which it contains directly by smoking herself or indirectly by working, living or being in an environment in which other people are smoking (second-hand smoke). There is no known exact amount of cigarette smoke considered safe or dangerous.
Through public education, most elementary school kids can understand that smoking is bad for them and that cigarettes are additive. Cigarettes are addictive due to nicotine, a drug found in tobacco (“Quitting Smoking”, 2015). According to Schneider (2016), some of the greatest health problems associated with smoking include: lung cancer, other cancers, coronary heart disease, other heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, other vascular disease, diabetes mellitus, pneumonia, influenza, tuberculosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), prenatal conditions, and sudden infant death syndrome. As stated by the Authority of the American Lung Association in an article titled “Health
Mathur, Charu, Erickson, Darin J., Stigler, Melissa H., Forster, Jean L., Finnegan Jr, John R. (2013). Individual and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status Effects on Adolescent Smoking: A Multilevel Cohort-Sequential Latent Growth Analysis, American Journal of Public Health. Volume 103, pages 543-548.
Asthmatic children are especially at risk. Exposure to secondhand smoke increases the number of episodes and severity of symptoms in hundreds of thousands of asthmatic children. Between 200,000 and 1,000,000 asthmatic children have their condition worsened by secondhand smoke.
Smoke within the home is more dangerous than in a public area. Record studies show that smokers are less affected from smoke than non-smokers. Non-smokers are at more of a high risk to have complications than the actual smoker. Secondhand smoke is also linked to some of the more fatal illnesses, such as, low birth weight, respiratory disease, and sudden infant syndrome. Now studies have showed that the deaths from secondhand smoke are at a record high. Secondhand smoke tends to kill around fifty thousand people each year.
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, (EPA). (2012, June 21). Toxic air pollutants. Retrieved from http://www.epa.gov/air/toxicair/newtoxics.html
Second Hand Smoke In the 1950's and 60's scientists gave the people a lot of evidence on the deadly effects of smoking where the tobacco companies on the other hand tried to put the doubt in people’s minds through the campaigns to show that it is not all true. By the time people actually decided to take care of their health and finally saw how life-threatening smoking could be by real life examples, the tobacco companies already got rich from its sales. Nowadays, nobody doubts that “firsthand” smoke is deadly to your health and it causes lung cancer and heart disease in adults and asthma and bronchitis in children. Now the industry is onto the secondhand smoke. Scientists and researchers are representing a lot of evidence and research that has been done throughout the years showing that the secondhand smoke can also cause a lung cancer in nonsmokers. The study has been done of people who have been long exposed to secondhand smoke and it shows that 26 out of 33 published studies indicate a link between secondhand smoke and lung cancer. The study estimates that the people that were breathing secondhand smoke were 8 to 150 percent more likely to get lung cancer. The tobacco companies are trying to argue the facts and are still in serious debate about the health hazards of breathing a secondhand smoke. A lot of anti-smoking organizations are trying to turn smoking in public into a private activity that does not have to involve nonsmokers breathing secondhand smoke. What is even more important is that many of these organizations convinced a lot of smokers to cut back or quit completely. The problem of secondhand smoke is increasing because it is so common in our society. It makes secondhand smoke the third-ranking cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers. Mothers who live with a smoking spouse have to realize the ill effects of secondhand smoke on children even before they are born. The smoking components reach the developing fetus through the mother. Infants that are born in a smoking environment weigh less and have a weaker chance of becoming a fully developed child. Secondhand smoke leads to blood clots and damages arterial linings which are the two most leading factors in the development of heart disease. The tobacco companies got scared of the effect that the secondhand smoke research can do to the cigarette makers.
Although it is beneficial for the economy for the production of tobacco products, it is extremely risky to use the product. According to researchers, second-hand smoke is terrible for everyone in the world who walks by someone who is exhaling. In the article by Robert Proctor “Why ban the sale of cigarettes? The case for abolition” states that cigarettes are the “most deadly object in the history of human civilization”.... ...
It can cause asthma and other respiratory illnesses in children, and has been implicated in various other childhood diseases such as sudden infant death syndrome or middle-ear infections. Scientists agree that there is no safe level of exposure to second hand smoke. It should simply be avoided. Neither air conditioning nor separation of smoking areas completely ...
Smoking does not only serve their own lungs of more than 4,000 hazardous substances including nicotine , tar, arsenic, ammonia , lead, acetone , ethanol , mercury and nickel list
At the end of this report, I think the father has a wrong view about smoking, since he believes that smoking does not affect other people. Whilst, the mother knows that smoking has a greater effect on secondhand smokers. Moreover, we should encourage and help smokers in our community to quit. Furthermore, home safety is important for children since children spend most of their time at home. In addition, the parents should be aware of the inside and outside home safety in order to keep their children safe. The Parents are responsible for making sure that children are eating clean and healthy food.
Scientists and health officials have been arguing the detrimental effects smoking has on our health for many years. Smoking can lead to serious complications including asthma, pancreas, lung and stomach cancer due to the large number of carcinogens (cancer causing chemicals) and other various substances added to it. It is a health hazard for both smokers and non-smokers and it is especially harmful to unborn babies. Although smokers claim that it helps them to relax and release stress, the negative aspects of the habit take over the positive. As it has been stressed by the scientists and experts, there are some very severe reasons of smoking but its crucial consequences should also be taken into consideration.