Homes and Cars Press Releases

Local Nonprofit asks Placer County Parents to Step up and
Step out on May 31

CONTACT:
Paul McIntyre or
Jean Carter
(916) 780-0226
Immediate Release: May 31, 2006

The Placer County nonprofit organization Kids Involuntarily Inhaling Secondhand Smoke (KIISS) is asking parents to take a huge step toward improving the health of their children by stepping up and stepping outside with their cigarettes on World No Tobacco Day this Wednesday, May 31st.
 
On May 31st of each year, the World Health Organization (WHO) sponsors the worldwide World No Tobacco Day. It aims to call attention to the dangers of tobacco use, and what "people around the world can do to claim their right to health and healthy living and to protect future generations".
 
"With kids spending more time at home as summer break begins, there is no better time to make homes smoke-free for children's sake," says KIISS President Paul McIntyre.
 
One of the biggest threats tobacco poses to youth is exposure to secondhand cigarette smoke in the home and car. Secondhand smoke causes a number of illnesses in children, including four times higher incidences of bronchitis, pneumonia, ear aches, colds and respiratory infections. It has been linked to an increased need for tubes in the ear, and to higher rates of asthma among children and Sudden Infant Death (SIDS) among infants. It has also been shown to increase the risk of cancer later in life.
 
Despite this overwhelming evidence of secondhand smoke's ill-effects, a recent study by the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center found evidence of exposure to nicotine in 84 percent of children examined. Twenty percent of California smokers with children under the age of 18 still allow smoking in their home.
 
The good news is that studies have also shown that smoking parents can act to reduce the odds that their children will grow up to be smokers. "Children whose parents quit smoking while they are still young and children whose parents prohibit smoking in the home are less likely to take up smoking as adults than those whose parents continue to smoke, and do so inside," McIntyre said.
 
Sponsored by the First 5 Placer Children and Families Commission, the non-profit organization KIISS's mission is to protect children from the dangers of exposure to secondhand smoke. So, "We encourage parents to take advantage of World No Tobacco Day and take the steps required to raise healthy, tobacco-free children," McIntyre concluded.
 
For more information, or to obtain a free KIISS Kit, visit the KIISS website, at www.kiiss.org. The KIISS Kit educates parents and guardians about the dangers of secondhand smoke, encourages solutions for protecting their children and includes pamphlets with smoke-free home and car pledges, which parents can sign May 31st.