With Every Breath: How Smoking Parents Are Harming Their Healthy Children

Besides the fact, that children learn through example, and habits such as (excessive) drinking and any amount of smoking may be likely setting the stage for them to repeat our adult poor decisions, many parents continue to act just as they did before they had kids. After all the common “myth” if you will, is as long as the children get a clean bill of health, then there’s nothing to worry about.

Still, we all know the damaging and devastating effects of second hand smoke. But, now research reveals something even more shocking. According to experts, even “healthy” children of smokers, showing no signs of being effected by their contaminated environment, may in fact actually be experiencing reduced lung function, which could get worse with time and continued exposure.

Experts go on to say, that parents who continue to smoke are placing their children at risk and may be “bad news” for their children.

They go on to add that several studies suggest that the offspring of smokers typically exhibit more breathing problems than children of nonsmokers. However, they go on to note that it remains unclear as to whether or not, or how much lung function is affected in children of smokers, especially those children who don’t have signs of problems or complain about breathing.

Still, research reveals that of 244 children between the ages of 4 and 12, assessed, showed significantly reduced lung function; including those without any lung or airway disease.

And, experts fear that, especially prior to this knowledge a ban on public smoking would only encourage smokers to indulge more in their own homes, putting their kids health at much greater risk.