Did You Know: Facts about Kids and Smoking (pdf)

When you smoke around children it is the same as if they were smoking themselves. Adults that spend one hour in an extremely smoky room inhale enough toxic chemicals to equal smoking 4 cigarettes. Because a child's respiratory rate is much faster, that number increases to 10 cigarettes.

Although ETS (environmental tobacco smoke) is dangerous to everyone, fetuses, infants, and children are at most risk because it can damage developing organs, such as the lungs and brain. 

Fact #3

In Alabama, the infant mortality rate among smoking mothers is 62% higher than in nonsmoking mothers, according to a report from the Alabama Department of Public Health (September 2011). 

Secondhand smoke contains twice as much tar and nicotine per unit volume as does smoke inhaled from a cigarette.  

Fact #5

Secondhand smoke stays in a room for a long time after someone smokes there. It settles on surfaces in the room and can be inhaled by children or ingested by children putting items in their mouth resulting in ear infections, bronchitis, asthma, pneumonia and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. 

Secondhand smoke has been classified by the EPA as a Class A carcinogen, like asbestos, a substance known to cause cancer in humans. 

Secondhand smoke contains over 4000 chemicals including more than 40 cancer causing agents and 200 known poisons. 

Each year nearly 300,000 middle ear infections in the United States are directly attributable to Second Hand Tobacco Smoke. 

During 2000-2004 the CDC reported: cigarette smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke resulted in approximately 443,000 premature deaths, $97 billion in productivity losses, and $96 billion in health care costs annually.

Children whose fathers smoked at all around the time of their conception were 15% more likely to develop leukemia. Those whose fathers smoked at least 20 cigarettes per day were 44% more likely to be diagnosed with the cancer. Source: American Journal of Epidemiology Dec 5, 2011

Infants who are exposed to a caregiver that smokes, or a mother that smoked while she was pregnant, are up to 4 times more likely to die of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Young people who smoke may become more strongly addicted to cigarettes and face an even greater risk for developing lung cancer than those who start smoking later in life. Every day, approximately 4,000 children under the age of 18 try a cigarette for the first time and 1,000 become regular smokers. Teenagers who smoke are more likely to have depression or other psychological problems. They are also more likely to engage in other dangerous behaviors, such as using alcohol and other drugs.

Smoking during pregnancy and exposure to secondhand smoke is the most important modifiable risk factor associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. It is associated with 5% of infant deaths, 10% of preterm births, and 30% of small for gestational age infants.

Pregnant women who are smokers and have a body mass index of 25 or higher are more than twice as likely to have a baby with a congenital heart defect than women who are either smokers or overweight but not both.(Reported February 2012 in HEART)

School absenteeism among children ages 6 to 11 years living with smokers could be reduced 24% to 34% by eliminating smoking in their homes. Caregivers' lost wages/time due to child absenteeism was valued at $227 million per year.(PEDIATRICS V 128, NO 4, OCTOBER 2011)

Alabama's
Cigarette
Tax / User Fee

• A 10% increase in the price of cigarettes reduces consumption by about 4% among adults and 7% among youth. Increased cigarette taxes are a proven way to reduce smoking - especially among youth. 
• Alabama has the 5th lowest cigarette tax in the country at 42.5 cents.  The average state cigarette tax is now $1.45 per pack, up 11 cents since 2010. A user fee of $1.00 per package would still keep Alabama’s tax lower than the national average. 
• The funds raised--over 200 million dollars--would go a long way toward paying for children's health care while decreasing the number of children who are exposed to second hand smoke as more people quit smoking.
• Some parents, some pregnant women and many teens will quit the habit if cigarettes cost $1.00 more a pack. This is not a tax on the poor--it is a user fee that will pay for only a small part of the cost to our children exposed to second hand smoke.