1. Reducing Exposure in the Home
Before I get started I wanted to ask you what you know about secondhand smoke.
[Let a couple of people share what they know; be conscious of when people talk about smoking bans or lawsuits.]

2. Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) Passive smoking Involuntary smoking
Secondhand smoke is a mixture of the smoke given off by the burning end of a cigarette, pipe or cigar and the smoke that is exhaled from the lungs of the smoker.
[Let a couple of people share what they know; be conscious of when people talk about smoking bans or lawsuits.]

3. Increase the number of homes with children aged six and under where smoking is not allowed
We’re going to talk today about a very specific area of work on secondhand smoke: reducing children’s exposure in the home.
EPA’s goal is to reduce the number of homes where children six and under are exposed to secondhand smoke from 29 percent to 15 percent by This equals a rate change of 1.25 percent per year.
At the end of the presentation I am going to ask you to commit to make your home smoke free.

4. 15 million children affected Most likely place of exposure
Involuntary exposure
Children are developmentally susceptible
Surveys show 15 million children are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke in the home (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report”, November 7, 1997).
The home is the most significant place of exposure for children because of the amount of time spent at home and because of progress made towards instituting smoking bans at schools, daycare facilities, and other public places.
Many local groups are working to increase more smoke-free environments in your community. This is important work. We are now focusing on exposure in the home because it is an area that has not received as much attention.
Children are more susceptible to the effects of secondhand smoke because their lungs are still developing.

5. Bronchitis and pneumonia Ear infections Coughing and wheezing Asthma
150, ,000 cases annually
Ear infections
Coughing and wheezing
Asthma
These findings come from EPA’s 1992 risk assessment on secondhand smoke.
Bronchitis and pneumonia are lower respiratory tract infections.
Fluid in the middle ear can lead to increased number of ear infections, and it is a leading cause of childhood hospitalizations for an operation.
Up to one million children with asthma have their condition made worse when exposed to secondhand smoke. They have an increased number of attacks and these attacks are often more severe.
Secondhand smoke may also cause thousands of healthy children to develop asthma each year.

6. Up to six million children affected
Chronic lung disease
Up to six million children affected
A leading cause of missed school days
A leading cause of hospitalizations
Over 100,000 children each year
Asthma is a chronic lung disease. Its characteristics are wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and breathlessness.
Asthma is the leading cause of absenteeism due to chronic illness (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
The number of children in the United States with asthma has nearly doubled over the past several years, reaching epidemic proportions in school-aged children (preschool-aged children as well).
Secondhand smoke is a known trigger of asthma, so it is important to understand the impacts of having an asthma condition, especially when it is aggravated by secondhand smoke.

7. Secondhand smoke exposure causes:
Low birth weight
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
Childhood asthma
Findings supported and published by National Cancer Institute in 1999
California EPA 1997 study confirmed the EPA’s findings and added some new definitive results.
In 1999, the National Cancer Institute reviewed the study and supported and published the findings.

8. Suggestive evidence of a causal association with secondhand smoke exposure and:
Spontaneous abortion
Adverse impact on cognition and behavior
Exacerbation of cystic fibrosis
Decreased pulmonary function
These findings are supported by a lower level of certainty than those listed on the previous page.
Associations were observed between parental smoking and children’s poor performance on tests (academic, behavioral, etc.).

9. Choose not to smoke in your home and do not permit others to do so
Research conducted by the Consumer Federation of America Foundation found:
70 percent of those surveyed would be receptive to a message or a request to smoke outside.
When asked to cite a good reason for taking their smoking outside, the answer that appeared most often was the children’s health.
Logic and facts are not enough.
Use words like “choice” and “option” instead of “should” and “must.”
It is important to acknowledge the difficulty of quitting.

10. Confirmed secondhand smoke causes young children’s asthma symptoms to worsen
Found suggestive evidence of an association between secondhand smoke exposure and new cases of asthma in young children
In January of 2000, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released a report on asthma and indoor exposures.
The NAS report confirmed findings by EPA and others that when young children with asthma are exposed to secondhand smoke, that exposure causes their symptoms to become exacerbated.
NAS went a step further, too: they found suggestive evidence of an association between young children’s exposure to secondhand smoke and the development of new cases of asthma in young children who had previously not displayed symptoms of the disease.

11. Choose not to smoke if children are present
Remember: research conducted by the Consumer Federation of America found that children’s health is the #1 motivational message.
It is also important that parents do not smoke in their cars, as the space is extremely small and the concentrations of smoke can be very high.

12. Don’t allow baby-sitters or others who work in your home to smoke in the house or near your children

13. Pledge to keep your home smoke free
Help other parents to understand the serious health risks to children
Talk with your pediatrician to find out more
[Show the “Take the Smoke-Free Pledge” brochure. Also, show the Smoke-Free Home Pledge Certificate.]
[Encourage the audience to take the smoke-free home pledge at that time. If parents are not ready to take the pledge, encourage them to consider calling the Smoke-Free Home Pledge Hotline and making the pledge later.]
[Offer the audience the Smoke-Free Home Kit if they take the pledge. The Smoke-Free Home Kit includes a certificate, a smoke-free magnet, and additional secondhand smoke materials.]
[Ask the audience if they will commit to asking one other person to take the smoke-free home pledge.]
[Encourage the audience to discuss secondhand smoke and children’s health with their pediatrician.]

14. Children & Secondhand Smoke Brochure
Protecting Yourself and Your Family From Secondhand Smoke Brochure
Take the Smoke-Free Home Pledge Brochure
Smoke-Free Home Kit
[Distribute copies of the secondhand smoke brochures.]
[Tell the audience that if they take the smoke-free home pledge, they will receive a Smoke-Free Home Kit. The Smoke-Free Home Kit includes a certificate, smoke-free magnet, and additional secondhand smoke materials.]
[Have some extra copies of the secondhand smoke brochures if the audience wants to take some for others]

15. EPA’s secondhand smoke website: www.epa.gov
National Service Center for Environmental Publications:
IAQ Infoline:
/iaq/ets.html
These are ways to get more information.
/ncepihom