Parents' puff gives children asthma, doctors warn

Secondhand smoke causes 15,400 children between three and 16 to develop asthma, gives 20,500 two or under a chest infection and 1,21,400 under-16s an infected middle ear, a report from the Royal College of Physicians warns. Another 600 under-16s get meningitis, 7,200 babies start wheezing and 40 children die of sudden infant death syndrome owing to passive smoking, the study says.

In total 1,65,000 children get such conditions, 9,500 need hospital treatment and 25,000 under-16s start smoking as a result of having one or more parents who smokes, while GPs undertake 3,03,900 consultations annually involving childhood illness linked to parental smoking, it adds.

Young people’s health suffers so badly from adults smoking near them or living in a home where people light up that smoking in outdoor areas where children gather should be outlawed, the report from the RCP’s tobacco advisory group concludes.

There was no point in proposing a ban on smoking in homes as that would be “unenforceable”, said Prof John Britton, group’s chairman. But government action and changes in public behaviour were needed to protect the two million children being brought up in homes where smoking occurs.

Higher risk
Some parents mistakenly believe that it is not harmful to smoke if they do it with a window open or after their children are asleep, Britton said. A child’s exposure to passive smoke is about three times higher than a peer in a non-smoking family if the father smokes but is raised by more than six times if the mother does and by almost nine-fold if both parents light up, the report found.

The legislation banning smoking in public places that came into force in England in mid-2007 should be extended to tackle smoking in places popular with children, such as play areas and swimming pools, said Richard Ashcroft, a co-author of the report and professor of bio-ethics at Queen Mary, University of London.

The leaders of many of the medical royal colleges, which represent specialist groups of doctors, backed the proposals. Prof Steve Field, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said the figures for childhood illness linked to passive smoking were horrifying. “These smokers are, in effect, forcing children to breathe what is essentially poisonous air,” he said. Chief medical officer for England, Prof Sir Liam Donaldson, said the report’s recommendations “align very well with the government’s 10-year vision for tobacco control set out in its strategy for England.” Ministers will decide whether to extend the scope of the public smoking ban.

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: “Children are being exposed to far less secondhand smoke as a result of smoke-free legislation. Parents have a responsibility to protect their children by stopping smoking around them in enclosed spaces.”