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February 6th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda MONDAY, Feb. 6 (HealthDay News) — Although fewer kids are being
exposed to smoking while riding in cars, more than 20 percent of
nonsmoking teens still are, U.S. health officials report.
Secondhand smoke can be particularly intense in a closed space, such as
inside a car, and poses a significant health risk, the researchers
noted.
“There have been marked decreases in exposure to smoking in cars,” said
report author Brian King, an epidemic intelligence service officer in the
Office on Smoking and Health at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. “That decrease occurred whether they were nonsmokers or
smokers,” he noted.
“But what is alarming is that, despite that decrease, we are still
seeing large levels of exposure, particularly among nonsmokers,” King
said. “One in five nonsmokers is still exposed to secondhand smoke in that
environment.”
The drop in smoking in cars is probably a mix of several factors,
including fewer people smoking and smoke-free laws that also have a
spillover effect on limiting smoking in homes and cars, King noted. In
addition, there have been changes in the attitudes about social
acceptability of smoking, especially when nonsmokers are present.
“We know that there is no safe level of secondhand smoke,” King
said.
The best way to eliminate secondhand smoke exposure is to implement
100-percent smoke-free environments, he added.
“Implementing voluntary smoke-free policies in your vehicle or
expanding existing smoke-free policies that also include motor vehicles
could help reduce that secondhand smoke exposure,” King said.
Four states already have laws that prohibit smoking in cars when there
are children aged 16 or younger inside. These states are Arkansas,
California, Louisiana and Maine, along with Puerto Rico.
The report was published in the Feb. 6 online edition of
Pediatrics.
Using data from the National Youth Tobacco Survey, which looks at
smoking among U.S. students in grades 6 through 12, the researchers found
that from 2000 to 2009, the number of children exposed to smoke in cars
had declined.
Among nonsmoking students, the exposure to smoke in cars went from 39
percent in 2000 to 22.8 percent in 2009, and among smoking students it
went from 82.3 percent in 2000 to 75.3 percent in 2009, King’s team
found.
But, that means that in 2009, over 22 percent of nonsmoking students
and 75 percent of smoking students were still being exposed to secondhand
smoke in cars, the researchers added.
Secondhand smoke can lead to acute respiratory infections, middle ear
disease, delayed lung growth and more severe asthma, the authors
noted.
Commenting on the study, Danny McGoldrick, research director at the
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said that “it’s great news that youth
exposure to secondhand smoke in cars has declined significantly, but there
is still much work to do to protect the many students who are still
exposed. We support the call for the adoption of voluntary and legislative
policies prohibiting smoking in cars with kids,” he added.
It is especially critical that states and communities adopt
comprehensive smoke-free laws that include all workplaces and public
places, McGoldrick said.
“These laws heighten awareness about the dangers of secondhand smoke,
and prompt the adoption of voluntary smoke-free policies in nonpublic
places, like homes and cars,” he added.
More information
For more on secondhand smoke, visit the Nemours Foundation.
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