Too young to smoke

Health Tip – Audio Version - Too young to smoke
Health Tip – Healthy Next Step: The Health Consequences of Involuntary Exposure to Tobacco Smoke: A Report of the Surgeon General (Office of the Surgeon General)

A statistical look at the health of America’s children shows smoke is a smaller part of their lives. This year’s “America’s Children” report says, among other things, that there’s been a drop in smoking and in breathing secondhand smoke.

At the National Institutes of Health, the director of child health and human development, Dr. Duane Alexander:

“Ten years ago, 88 percent of children had a marker in their blood called cotinine that indicates exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke. That’s gone down from 88 percent to 59 percent – still too high, but a major improvement.”

Alexander says the drop in cotinine also shows smoking itself is less common among young people. He says avoiding smoke is one of the best things a person can do to protect his or her health.

Health Tip courtesy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Last revised: August, 15 2006