I am so glad I don't smoke anymore. Luckily, it's been years and years. Twelve, to be exact, meaning I stopped smoking about five years before I got pregnant the first time around. Sadly, I know a few moms who still smoke. And, I know for a fact that they do it in the car while their children are with them, thinking it's okay because the windows are down. Well, it turns out that even then, their kids are victims of second-hand smoking, which is highly likely to pose a threat to their health, according to a new study.
Published on Monday in the journal Tobacco Control, the study shows that smoking in a car produces harmful levels of particulate pollutants that are much higher than World Health Organization standards for indoor air.
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These findings are worrisome because a series of health problems have already been linked between kids and their exposure to second-hand smoking. These include sudden infant death, wheezing, asthma and middle ear disease. As the mother of two asthmatic children I can tell you that this is a serious matter.
It's not hard for me to imagine that if I were still smoking, I would've probably thought that doing so while driving with the windows open would be ok, since that would allow for the air to circulate. I honestly would've never thought my kids would have been victims of second-hand smoking this way. And I'm sure a lot of parents who smoke don't know either.
So if you know any parent who smokes in the car with his or her kids, make sure you show them the results of this study. I know I will.
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