Have been found high levels of tobacco carcinogens in the urine of 90 percent of passive smoking children who lived in a home where at least one of the parents smoked. This is the overwhelming result of a study conducted in the United States with 70 children between one month and 10 years old.
Children exposed to tobacco are extremely likely to be smokers in the future and suffer childhood infections and respiratory diseases such as asthma.
In the investigation they found that the average level of tobacco carcinogens in children's urine, that is, agents that can act on living tissues and cause cancer, was about 8 percent of the level found in adult smokers.
The percentage among children was markedly higher than that found in passive adult smokers exposed to secondhand smoke, which amounted to between 1 and 5 percent of the level of smokers.
In addition, a direct correlation was found between the number of cigarettes smoked each day by adults in the home and the level of tobacco carcinogens found in children.
The accumulated effects of having been exposed to tobacco smoke for years, experts believe, lay the groundwork in the body to produce changes in the DNA of cells, which could contribute to lung damage and possibly lung cancer.
Of course, the problem of passive smoking children It is a serious issue that should begin to raise awareness from the home.
It is hard to believe that smoking parents do not understand the damage they are causing in their children, so I support measures such as banning smoking in public spaces where there are children such as cars and playgrounds.
