Tobacco Smoke

Probably the most common indoor pollutant, tobacco smoke may be the most important health issue of our time. That's no exaggeration: According to a federal estimate based on numerous studies, passive smoking alone accounts for about 46,000 deaths a year.

Here are the main tobacco troubles:

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) : While the causes of this syndrome have yet to be pinpointed, babies whose mothers smoke have a much higher risk of dying from SIDS. (One theory is that tobacco smoke, a known airway irritant, may interfere with normal respiration).

Even if the dad is the only smoker in the household, the child's risk is much greater than that of one in a smoke-free household. Confining smoking to a single room in the house doesn't do much good either because air circulates through the house via ventilation systems, doors opening and closing and general movement.

Ear infections: A study showed that if either parent smokes, a child is more likely to have ear infections that last longer - an average of 28 days compared with the normal period of 19 days.

Asthma : If your child already has asthma and you smoke, he may have more frequent attacks.

Cancer : Children who grow up in homes where one or both of the adults smoked for 25 years were shown to have twice the risk of developing lung cancer in adulthood as do children who grow up in homes without any smokers. Lung cancer takes an average of 30 years to develop, and this link to tobacco exposure during childhood and adolescence has been shown in epidemiological studies. It also showed that exposure to smoke while in the womb has also been linked to a 90 percent higher risk of leukemia and a 130 percent higher risk of lymphoma in childhood.

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