Each day, millions of people across the country decide to spend time at breakfast, lunch, dinner, and any time in between smoking one of the many kinds of tobacco products available. Whether it is while walking along the street, driving home from work, or watching television in their living room, no one can go through an entire day without noticing someone else smoking. It could be the smell of the smoke or the instinctive cough that causes a person to notice; nevertheless, smoking is an addictive habit chosen by many Americans.

Second-hand smoke is a prevalent problem in the United States. It comes from the end of the burning cigarette and is the smoke exhaled by the smoker. Containing over 4,000 chemicals, 43 of which cause cancer, second-hand smoke is responsible for a substantial amount of deaths due to lung disease and heart disease each year (American Lung Association, “Secondhand Smoke and Children” 1). The carbon monoxide from the smoke, as a result of its chemical nature, attaches itself to red blood cells about 100 times more easily than oxygen. This prevents the oxygen from getting into the blood stream (Sander 1). The deficiency of oxygen compromises circulation and c

The belief that second-hand smoke will not hurt children is common among parental smokers, although studies have disproved that thinking. Secondhand smoke is the third major preventable cause of death and more young children are killed by parental smoking than by all unintentional injuries combined (OMA 1, Lang 1). For decades, the U.S. Surgeon General has reported that, based on strong scientific evidence, exposure to second-hand smoke is a serious public health hazard (OMA 2). The molecules from the smoke remain in the air hours after smoking, so even if the home seems to be smoke-free, it really is not (Koerber 2). Similarly, smoking in another room than where the child may be, has the same effects. The OMA Committee on Population Health explains that “Parental tobacco use in another room in the house is similar to having urination allowed only in the deep end of a pool” (5).

As parents, adults have a responsibility to provide a safe environment for their children, including their home and car. Bouchard says that “under the Criminal Code of Canada, parents are responsible for providing the ‘necessities of life.’” The necessities of life include food, shelter, and medical care, which, he asserts, would include “a healthy environment to live in,” free of dangerous substances and health-threatening circumstances. Parents who put their children in this situation are “failing to live up to the duty which is imposed upon them” (Canadian 1). Parents need to care for their child the best that they can, which includes keeping them from potentially harmful situations such as second-hand smoke.

the physical health problems that are caused by second-hand smoke. As each definition stated, physical harm is child abuse, so second-hand smoke is child abuse.

Since the smoke can cause the child to develop heart disease, lung cancer, asthma or other respiratory problems, it is causing physical harm to the child and therefore falls

Philip Morris isn’t the first to recognize smoking as harmful. Patrick Reynolds, grandson of tobacco company founder RJ Reynolds, was the first industry figure to turn his back on cigarette companies. He saw his father, brother, and other relatives die from cigarette-related illnesses such as emphysema and lung cancer. He decided to go against the industry because he was concerned about the large amount of health evidence building up. He started a smoke-free organization and became a well-known advocate of tobacco use (“Patrick” 1). <

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