Children are the most passive captors of all when it comes to breathing in second-hand smoke. Made up of a complex mixture of more than 4,000 chemical compounds, including at least 40 known carcinogens, tobacco smoke also contains carbon monoxide which inhibits the blood's ability to carry oxygen to vital organs. While the effects of passive smoking on adults are well documented, the implications for the very young are even more horrifying.
The Royal College of Physicians in its recent report, Smoking and the Young, estimates that 17,000 children under the age of five are admitted to UK hospitals every year with illnesses resulting from passive smoking. A recent report from the Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health emphasises the fact that children are at greatest risk in their homes and evidence links second-hand smoke with an increased risk of pneumonia and bronchitis, asthma attacks, middle-ear disease, decreased lung function and sudden infant death syndrome.
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