Smoking is very bad. Mom and Dad told me that much when I was 16. Did I listen? Heck no! But now I have another reason not to smoke, ever. She has big brown eyes just like her Mama. I would do anything to protect her and that includes resisting the urge to suck down a cigarette after a particularly long day.
Reasearchers have just released a study on the toxic chemicals in cigarrette smoke and the harmful effects they have on children. The results might suprise you. Turns out that it's not as easy to get rid of cigarette smoke as cracking a window or washing your hands. The toxic chemicals in the cigarette smoke cling to smoker's hair, clothing, carpets and drapes. The residue includes heavy metals, carcinogens, and even radioactive materials that young children can get on their hands and even ingest. Similiar to low level lead exposure, continued exposure to cigarette smoke can lead to cognitive defects, causing children to score lower on standardized tests. It may lead to your daughter's infertility. Oh yeah, and cause cancer.
"The Central Message here is that simply closing the kitchen door to take a smoke is not protecting the kids from the effects of that smoke. There are carcinogens in this third-hand smoke, and they are a CANCER risk for anybody of any age who comes into contact with them." - Dr. Philip Landrigen, Pediatrician and head of the Children's Environmental Health Center at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
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What a great blog! We're glad to have discovered you! If you'd ever be interested in doing an interview on green single parenting, we'd love to feature you in a post on greenbabyguide.com. Thanks for joining us for Thrifty Green Thursday recently too!
ReplyDeleteWow, I had no idea that it was this bad. This really has me thinking.
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