United States
Environmental Protectio
k Agency
Children's Environmental Health Disparities: Hispanic
and .atino American Children and Secondhand Smoke
This fact sheet focuses on disparities in exposure to secondhand smoke for Hispanic 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 propor-
tion 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
minorities and poor children may be
exposed to more pollution.93 Thus,
they may face the biggest health
risks from pollution. This fact sheet
describes Hispanic 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 chemicals, many of which
cause cancer.24 Secondhand smoke
is especially bad for children because
their bodies are developing, and
because they breathe at higher rates
than adults do.
Secondhand smoke is a major trig-
ger for asthma.94'95'96'97'98'" Stud-
ies have linked secondhand smoke
to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
(SIDS), bronchitis, pneumonia, and
ear infections.100'101-102 Each year the
US spends more than $700 million
on children's medical costs due to
secondhand smoke.90 Children born to
women exposed to ETS while preg-
nant have shown signs of delayed
development in speech and language,
learning, and memory.25'2B
Smoking in the home is a key
source of ETS. Kids spend most of
their time at home and indoors. A
national survey found that almost 3
million children (11 %) aged 6 and
under are exposed to ETS at home
four or more days per week.27 This
survey also found that exposure to
secondhand smoke was higher in
households with low income and
educational levels.
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 exposed to sec-
ondhand smoke in the home.91
Hispanics have lower rates of
smoking than other racial or ethnic
groups. For example, fewer Hispan-
ics smoke on a daily basis (11 %)
compared with Whites (16%),
Blacks (14%), and other races
(14%).71 This suggests that Hispanic
children may have lower second
hand smoke exposure.
However, smoking rates differ
among Hispanic groups. For exam-
ple, Puerto Rican and Cuban-Ameri-
can women have higher rates of
heavy-smoking (more than 1/2 pack
per day) than Mexican-American
women (49% compared to 19%).92
Also, the longer a foreign born
Hispanic person lives in the US,
Secondhand Smoke
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EPA100F08032
the more likely he or she will start
smoking. For example, 95% of
Mexican-born mothers ban smoking
in their homes, compared with 78%
of US-born Hispanic mothers.67'68'69
So smoking may become a more
serious problem for Hispanics and
increase their children's exposure to
secondhand smoke, the longer they
live in the US.
Overall, exposure to secondhand
smoke 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. While smoking rates
are generally lower among Hispanics,
efforts need to be directed at keeping
those rates low to protect children.
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. Moving to
another room or opening a window is
not enough to protect your children.
Smoke outside 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 pregnant
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/index.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 organizations to ad-
dress 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/smokef ree/.
The Ad Council and EPA work
together on the National Childhood
Asthma Public Service Campaign.
The Campaign raises awareness
about secondhand smoke and other
asthma triggers. It also provides tips
for parents about simple steps they
can take to help their child. To view
the radio and TV campaign materials,
available in English and Spanish, visit
www.noattacks.org.
The Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) has a bilingual
Tobacco Information and Preven-
tion 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-smoking cam-
paigns. The site describes community
action plans and state anti-tobacco
programs. For more information, visit
http ://ww w .cdc .gov/tobacco/index .htm.
Healthy and asthma-friendly
schools are free of tobacco. CDC
offers an easy-to-use self-assess-
ment and planning tool for schools
to improve their health and safety
programs. To access this tool, visit
http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/SHI/Default.aspx.
Many workplaces and other
facilities are now smoke-free. The
American Nonsmokers' Rights
Foundation tracks tobacco control
regulations in a database. It publishes
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.
Smoking rates differ among
Hispanic groups. For example,
Puerto Rican and Cuban-
American women have higher
rates of heavy-smoking than
Mexican-American women.
RESOURCES:
For more information on children's environmental health, visit the
EPA's Office of Children's Health Protection and Environmental Edu-
cation at http://yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.nsf/content/homep-
age.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 Control and Preven-
tion, http://www.cdc.gov/omh/
• Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units, www.aoec.
org/PEHSU.htm or call toll free 1-888-347-2632
I National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National
Institutes of Health, http://ncmhd.nih.gov/
I National Alliance for Hispanic Health, http://www.hispanichealth.org/
I National Council of La Raza, http://www.nclr.org/
I Kaiser Family Foundation Health Disparities Report: A Weekly Look
at Race, Ethnicity and Health/ http:// kaisernetwork.org/daily_re-
ports/rep_disparities.cfm
1 DiversityData, Harvard School of Public Health website 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
I Unnatural Causes, a TV documentary series and public outreach
campaign on the causes of socioeconomic 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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