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Children's Environmental Health Disparities: Black and
African American Children and Secondhand Smoke
This fact sheet focuses on disparities in exposure to secondhand smoke for Black and African American children.
This fact sheet also provides important actions that can be taken to protect all children.
Pollution in the environment
may harm children more than
adults.This is because children's
bodies are still growing. Also, they
eat more, drink more, and breathe
more in proportion to their body
size than adults. And children's
normal behavior can expose them
more to pollution. This means that
exposure to a given amount of
pollution results in a larger quantity
of the pollutant in children's bodies
compared to adults.
Children of racial and ethnic mi-
norities and poor children may be
exposed to more pollution.93Thus,
they may face the biggest health
risks from pollution.This fact sheet
describes Black and African Ameri-
can children's health risks related to
secondhand smoke. It tells you how
you can take actions to protect all
children.
What is Secondhand Smoke?
Secondhand smoke, or environ-
mental tobacco smoke (ETS), is
a mix of smoke from the burning
end of a cigarette, pipe, or cigar
and smoke exhaled by smokers. It
contains more than 4,000 chemi-
cals, many of which cause cancer.24
Secondhand smoke is especially
bad for children because their bod-
ies are developing, and because
they breathe at higher rates than
adults do.
Secondhand smoke is a major
trigger for asthma.94'95'96,97'98 99
Studies have linked secondhand
smoke to Sudden Infant Death
Syndrome (SIDS), bronchitis, pneu-
monia, and ear infections.100101'
102 Each year the US spends more
than $700 million on children's
medical costs due to secondhand
smoked90 Children born to women
exposed to ETS while pregnant
have shown signs of delayed
development in speech and lan-
guage, learning, and memory.25 26
Smoking in the home is a key
source of secondhand smoke.
Kids spend most of their time at
home and indoors. A national
survey found that almost 3 mil-
lion children (11%) aged 6 and
under are exposed to secondhand
smoke at home four or more days
per week.27This survey also found
that exposure to secondhand
smoke was higher in households
with low income and educa-
tional levels, and higher in African
American households regardless
of the age of the children.
Older children are also at risk
from exposure at home and
school.Twenty-two percent of
middle school students and 24%
of high school students are ex-
posed to secondhand smoke in
the home.91
Exposure to secondhand
smoke has declined during the
1990s. Education campaigns
about the dangers of smoking
and secondhand smoke may
have played a role in the decline.29
Many of these efforts now target
teens and parents of children with
asthma.
What Can You Do?
If you smoke, don't smoke in
your home and car. Don't allow
family and visitors to do so, either.
Secondhand Smoke
Visit http://yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.nsf/content/homepage.htm or call (202) 564-2188.

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EPA100F08030
Moving to another room or open-
ing a window is not enough to
protect your children. Smoke out-
side until you can quit, away from
children, and away from doors and
windows to prevent the smoke
from entering the home.
Don't smoke if you are preg-
nant or near someone who is
pregnant.
Take the EPA Smoke-Free Home
Pledge: Call 1-866-SMOKE-FREE
(1-866-766-5337) or visit: http://
www.epa.gov/iaq/ets/pledge/iridex.
html.
For more information on how
to protect kids from ETS, visit
http://www.epa.gov/iaq/ets/.
What's Being Done?
Here are some examples of
efforts by Federal governmental
agencies, local and national orga-
nizations to address secondhand
smoke.
EPA's Smoke-Free Homes Pro-
gram website can help you keep
your home smoke-free. It offers
bilingual brochures explaining the
dangers of secondhand smoke that
you can download.To learn more,
visit http://www.epa.gov/smokefree/.
The Ad Council and EPA work
together on the National Childhood
Asthma Public Service Campaign.
The Campaign raises awareness
about secondhand smoke and oth-
er asthma triggers. It also provides
tips for parents about simple steps
they can take to help their child.To
view the radio andTV campaign
materials, available in English and
Spanish, visit www.noattacks.org.
The Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention (CDC) has a
bilingualTobacco Information and
Prevention Source (TIPS) website.
TIPS describes the health hazards
of smoking. It features a Tips 4
Youth section, where kids can test
their knowledge. It also has fact
sheets and posters for anti-smok-
ing campaigns.The site describes
community action plans and state
anti-tobacco programs. For more
information, visit http://www.cdc.
gov/tobacco/index.htm.
Healthy and asthma-friendly
schools are free of tobacco.
CDC offers an easy-to-use self-
assessment and planning tool for
schools to improve their health
and safety programs.To access
this tool, visit http://apps.nccd.cdc.
gov/ SHI/Defaultaspx.
Many workplaces and other
facilities are now smoke-free.The
American Nonsmokers' Rights
Foundation tracks tobacco control
regulations in a database. It pub-
lishes maps and lists of smoke-free
cities, states, universities, hotels,
airports, restaurants, and other
venues.To learn more, visit http://
www.no-smoke.org/goingsmokefree.
php?id=519.
Chemicals from secondhand
smoke can be measured in the
blood. A study found that levels
of cotinine, a breakdown product
of nicotine that can be measured
in blood, were on average four
times higher in Black children
than White children30
RESOURCES:
For more information on children's environmental health,
visit tlie EPA's Office of Children s Health Protection and
Environmental Education athttp://yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/
ochpweb.nsf/content/homepage.htm. You can also call
the office at (202) 564-2188
¦America's Children and the Environment data/indicators,
http://www.epa.gov/envirohealth/children/index.htmn
¦	Office of Minority Health, Centers for Disease Contro
and Prevention, http://www.cdc.gov/omh/
¦	Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units, www.
aoec.org/PEHSU.htm or call toll free 1-888-347-2632
¦	National Center on Minority Health and Health Dispari
ties, National Institutes of Health, http://ncmhd.nih.gov/
¦African American Health Care and Medical Information,
http://www.blackhealthcare.com
¦African American Health Network, National Medical
Association, http:/7www.aahn.com
¦	Kaiser Family Foundation Health Disparities Report
A Weekly Look at Race, Ethnicity and Health/ http://
kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_disparities.cfm
¦	DiversityData, Harvard School of Public Health web-
site on indicators of how people of different racial/
ethnic backgrounds live includes comparative data
about housing, neighborhood conditions, residential
integration, and education, www.DiversityData.org
¦	Unnatural Causes, a TV documentary series and
public outreach campaign on the causes of socio-
economic racial/ethnic inequities s in health, http://
www.unnaturalcauses.org/
Visit http://yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.nsf/content/homepage.htm or call (202) 564-2188.

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