Homes and Cars Press Releases

Buying a New Home?
It's a Good Time To Go Smoke Free Indoors.

CONTACT:
Paul McIntyre or
Anne Naughton
(916) 780-0226
Immediate Release: September 6, 2002

People spend more time in their home than anywhere else. So the thought of ammonia, formaldehyde and arsenic - just a few of the cancer-causing chemicals found in cigarette smoke - wafting through a home is a bit unsettling. Yet people continue to smoke tobacco indoors.

It is a well-known fact that smoking is hazardous to the person's health, but a number of people are unaware that secondhand smoke also poses a very serious health threat. "Buying a new home presents an excellent opportunity to make the home smoke-free, for both economic and health reasons," says Anne Naughton, project director with Kids Involuntarily Inhaling Secondhand Smoke.

Drifting smoke from a cigarette clings to everything - clothing, furniture, carpet, walls etc. Smoking outside means lower cleaning costs and less frequent replacement of household furniture. It also means a nicer smelling, more welcoming home, as new paint and new wallpaper, and sometimes even new carpet and drapes, won't succeed in eliminating the pervasive smell of cigarette smoke.

Keeping the home smoke-free protects the resell value of the home in the future.

Besides the monetary rewards of eliminating smoking from inside a home, there are numerous health benefits, particularly for children. Researchers at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital found that 13 million children in the U.S. are exposed to secondhand smoke in their home.

Children who are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke have, as a result, four times higher rates of bronchitis, and ammonia and other respiratory infections, as well as higher rates of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and needing tubes in their years. These kids also suffer from limited lung developments in capacity, and a greater chance of acquiring cancer later in life.

More severe asthma, higher rates of school absenteeism, and reduced ability to absorb essential nutrients like vitamin C, are also a result of exposure to secondhand smoke.

Making a home smoke-free is good for a person's health and for their pocketbook!

For more information and a KIISS Kit to help make your home smoke-free, contact Kids Involuntarily Inhaling Secondhand Smoke, (KIISS) at www.kiiss.org.