ASH has compiled the
following list of resources for parents concerned about children,
smoking and secondhand smoke. See below for...
LATEST NEWS - political developments and new research
HEALTH RESEARCH - how smoking, passive
and in utero intake harms children
TOBACCO COMPANIES TARGET
CHILDREN - despite their claims to the contrary
ILLEGAL SUPPLY TO CHILDREN -
and how it can be stopped
OTHER RESOURCES - useful sites and
services
See how ASH and other health and child
welfare groups are campaigning to Protect
children from tobacco
See our smokers'
page for info on how to quit
LATEST NEWS
Tobacco
peddlers slammed over "big fat lies" July
21, 2008
NSW dealers, whipped up by tobacco company misinformation, are
trying to scuttle plans to protect children from tobacco.
See Why
NSW Cabinet should put children's health ahead of misleading
claims
See Philip
Morris scare tactics - and the truth Latest on
Protecting children
Take action against tobacco promotion in
films
March 2008: Young people
seeing smoking in films are likely to smoke more. Most current top 10 Australian films
depict smoking. ASH and our allies want "counter-ads" shown in
front of any film with smoking - an effective way to dull the impact of smoking images. Please
go to this Cancer
Council NSW webpage to send action emails to Australian Health
Ministers.
New Zealand moves towards ending tobacco shop
displays
3/12/07: NZ/Aotearoa is the latest to propose banning tobacco displays
in shops. See NZ
government discussion paper Health
groups seek retail display bans and licensing among other
measures. NZ retailers have lobbied against a display ban -
using flawed arguments contrary to independent research. Look
at the retailer
arguments and then see The
truth about retailer claims
Study says shop displays
undermine quitting... as Tas sets 3-year deadline
22/11/07: A new study has shown quit attempts are undermined by
tobacco displays in retail outlets - as Tasmania's parliament votes to end
displays by February 2011. See
ASH /
Protecting Children for Tobacco media release 22/11/07
HEALTH
RESEARCH (see more
health research on our Latest
Research page)
SMOKING, PASSIVE AND IN UTERO
INTAKE OF TOBACCO SMOKE HARMS CHILDREN.
There's much research on this, including:
Secondhand
smoke raises child ear infection risk
19/5/08: An Australian report has found ear infections could be cut
by 16% in non-Aboriginal and 27% in Aboriginal children by removing
secondhand smoke exposure. The report, by the Perth-based Telethon
Institute for Child Health Research, appears in the latest edition of
the Medical Journal of Australia. See
Telethon
Institute media release 19/5/08
Smoking
stunts boys, doesn't make girls thinner
26/3/08: Smoking doesn't help girls lose weight - but it does make boys
shorter by around 2.5cm, says a new study published in the Annals of
Epidemiology. The study of over 400 boys and 400 girls aged
12-13 confirms earlier research about tobacco use and
weight. See
study
abstract and Sydney
Morning Herald report 26/3/08
Smoking
the main cause of SIDS deaths
July '07: Smoking has firmed as the main preventable factor in SIDS
deaths, a new research review showing more than 80% of mothers of SIDS
victims are smokers. See
2007
review of studies See 2006
Lancet study
Hear or read ASH
comment on ABC radio's PM 16/10/07
Youths
can be hooked in two
days
July '07: Study on youth dependence in Archives of Pediatrics and
Adolescent Medicine says some youths lose autonomy over
tobacco within two days of first inhaling; dependence, withdrawal symptoms and
failed cessation attempts can precede daily smoking. See
abstract
and link to full study
Even
low passive exposure causes child vascular harm
June 07: Exposing children even to low levels of secondhand smoke
increases their risk of developing cardiovascular disease in later life,
says this study from Finland. See
the study
Smoking
dads can pass damaged genes to children
1/6/07: Children can inherit genetic damage from smoking fathers, says a
new study in Cancer Research. The Canadian study used mice to
show changes in the DNA sequence of sperm cells - changes that can be
passed to offspring. See
the study
Other studies on genetic harm:
- Smoking can also increase
risk of passing obesity genes from father to son - See Genomics
report 12/05
- Smoking while pregnant may cause permanent damage to
foetal genes - increasing cancer risk in later life.
See 2005
study
Smoking
is a heartbreaker - even for the young at heart
17/4/07: Though young adult smokers may seem healthy,
smoking causes significant harm to their hearts, says a study in Chest
journal. Regular smoking harms the heart's ability to
relax between beats, reducing pumping capacity. Health groups want stronger government action to protect children from tobacco.
See ASH/National
Heart Foundation media release 17/4/07
See study
abstract
Pregnant
women 'program' kids to smoke
28/11/06: Children whose mother smoked
during pregnancy are almost three times more likely to take it up as
teens, says Australian study in Tobacco
Control. Addiction may be
"programmed" into babies by nicotine through the
umbilical cord. The study tracked more than 3000 mothers and 4500
children over more than 20 years. See
Melbourne
Age report 28/11/06 See full
study
Pregnant
smokers' future offspring more likely to be obese in adolescence
14/6/06: Children of mothers who smoked during pregnancy are about 40% more
likely to be obese in adolescence, says an Australian study of over 3,000
children study published in the American
Journal of Epidemiology. See
the study
Babies may absorb smoke residue in the home
7/8/06: Crawling babies explore the world by
touching - and tasting - anything they can get their wet little hands on.
Including smoking residue. See
latest research in USA
Today 7/8/06
Parental smoking
may boost child leukaemia risk
28/6/06:
A study of smoking fathers has shown children suffer increased risk of
leukaemia from their parents' secondhand smoke. The study has been
published in the American Journal of Epidemiology (June 2006),
163:1091-1100. See study
Tobacco shop displays predispose children to
smoke
6/6/06: New study from The Cancer
Council Victoria shows how removing tobacco products from view would
help reduce encouragement of kids to smoke. See
ASH media
release 2/6/06 with link to study
Family
has big influence on quitting
19/9/05: Family plays a bit part in helping people quit smoking, says this
release from the Cancer Institute NSW.
Kids
learn early to choose tobacco, study finds
10/09/05:
Children as young as two are influenced by whether their parents smoke. In a study of 2 to
6-year-olds, children who were told to "shop" for groceries
for a doll were four times more likely to choose cigarettes if their
parents smoked. Archives of Pediatrics &
Adolescent Medicine.
Smoking
parents expose children to cancer-causing chemicals
12/5/06:
New parents who smoke put their infants in danger because secondhand
smoke contains cancer-causing chemicals, says a study in Cancer
Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. See HealthDay
News report 12/5/06 See
media
report and study
-
Smoking
while pregnant linked to child hyperactivity and unruly behaviour (2005)
Report
in The Australian (2/8/05) on new UK study linking smoking while
pregnant with antisocial behaviour and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder (ADHD). See also study
abstract, British Journal of Psychiatry
- Parents'
smoking may discolor kids' gums (2005)
Secondhand smoke, say Japanese researchers, may
discolour children's gums.
Abstract in Pediatrics,
August 2005.
-
Cognitive harm to kids from secondhand smoke exposure
Research shows passive smoke - even a little - shaves points
off kids' IQ, harms reading, maths and reasoning skills.
- Just
going outside isn't good enough (2004)
SIDS & Kids says your smoking
outdoors helps your kids - but not as much as giving up
altogether.
- Passive
smoke may damage children's hearts
Research shows
even moderate passive exposure can cause children to develop
serious heart problems.
- Passive
smoking link with kids' asthma
German study finds maternal
smoking has a significant impact in development of child asthma. And
more on asthma...
- Kids
from smoky homes more likely to miss school
Study shows the impact of smoky homes on school absences due to
respiratory illness.
More on the health dangers: Car
and Home: Smoke Free Zone
Website
of
the ETS & Children Project - dangers of passive smoke to children and what
can be done. From ETS & Children
Taskforce (NSW Health, SIDS, Asthma, Heart, Cancer).
TOBACCO COMPANIES TARGET CHILDREN
How big tobacco promotes smoking to young
people
Despite advertising bans, the tobacco
industry is still using a range of channels - film, fashion, music and
publications - to hook their mostly young target markets. See 2004
article Promoting
tobacco to the young in the age of advertising bans
- by Greg Soulos (The Cancer Council NSW) and Stafford Sanders (ASH
Australia). An edited version was also published in the NSW Public
Health Bulletin 15(5-6) May-June 2004.
Film smoking encourages kids to light
up
2003
study
(in The Lancet) shows on-screen smoking encourages kids to smoke.
See our slideshow
Behind
the SmokeScreen on
youth impact of on-screen smoking and possible actions to counter it.
See The Cancer Council
NSW Smoking
in movies webpages with links to taking action - including
current campaign:
ILLEGAL SUPPLY TO
CHILDREN
Even though it's illegal to supply cigarettes to
children, over 200,000 Australian school children are weekly smokers -
and up to a quarter obtain their cigarettes from retailers (ASSAD survey
2004). For best practice on compliance monitoring and enforcement
see National
Drug Strategy report - including statement that
legal advice confirms it is not entrapment to involve young people in
test operations.
See also:
- Smoking
Behaviours of Australian Secondary Students in 2002
Latest survey by
National Tobacco Strategy (published November 2004), showing there are
still more than 200,000 school students smoking weekly - and almost a
quarter are getting it from retail. See
also ASH
media release 24/11/04
- Tightening
tobacco promotion will protect kids 9
Nov 2004
Qld applauded for taking cigarette shop displays out of young
faces...
- Kids need more protection from tobacco
2
Nov 2004
Surge in smoking by pre-teen girls needs to be countered by
stronger measures. See our November 2004 media release, with links to
the NSW Health / Cancer Council survey.
- Governments, tobacco companies make $100m from child smokers
See our June 2003 media release...
-
and more on...
Tobacco sales to children
Access to cigarettes by minors is still a major problem despite laws
that fine retailers for the illegal supply of cigarettes to young people
under 18.
OTHER RESOURCES
See our smokers'
page for info on how to quit
Protecting
children - video and factsheets
ASH 6min video
and factsheets (2006-7) on retail display of tobacco - how it encourages children
to smoke, and why health groups want it out of sight.
OxyGen
A very useful website created and funded by the South Australian Smoking and
Health Project, Smarter than Smoking Project (WA) and Quit Victoria to
promote and encourage healthy lifestyle choices and provide information
on the impact of tobacco.
Car
and Home: Smoke Free Zone
Great site
with slideshows and other resources, from the NSW ETS & Children Taskforce run by
leading health groups and NSWhealth.
Selling
death to kids
Do you have information about tobacco smuggling, illegal sales to kids or trading in illicit tobacco, known as "chop
chop"? If so, report law breakers to the Australian Tax Office's
hot line at 1800 060 062 or email illegaltobacco@ato.gov.au
with details.
Health effects of smoking
See brief
summary (2005) from The Cancer Council NSW - and note that the
evidence is growing all the time! Or for a bit more detail, see
Australian government 2006 factsheet How
smoking harms your health.
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