More than half of the children who took part in a study on exposure to cigarette smoke tested positive for such exposure, despite only a handful of their parents admitting to lighting up, according to a United States (US) study.
Parents may think their children are exposed only if they're around someone actively smoking a cigarette, or are unaware of where else their children may be breathing in smoke - but a blood test may help identify and reduce smoke exposure, said researchers at the University of California, San Francisco.
Secondhand smoke exposure in children has been tied to sudden infant death syndrome, respiratory problems, ear infections and asthma.
'What the test does is allow the doctor, in consultation with the parent, to figure out the source of exposure and then to eliminate it,' said Professor Jonathan Winickoff, an associate professor of paediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children in Boston.
Citation: http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/TechandScience/Story/STIStory_797704.html
When I was a child, I used to breathe in smoke emitted by my father's cigarette or my uncle's cigarette.
Then, I didn't know it was harmful to my health. So, I must have inhaled enormous secondhand smoke.
I believe it must be a cause of my poor ability. Now that both of my parents quit smoking, I'm no longer afraid of secondhand smoke.
But, my mother says "It is common for teenagers to want to smoke."
It seems that more teenagers poisoned by smoking will be reproduced.
