700M Kids Exposed to Tobacco Smoke
06/16/99
Almost half the world's children are exposed to tobacco fumes from the 1.2 billion adult smokers, according to a World Health Organization report released today.
Children whose mothers smoke have an estimated 70 percent more respiratory problems, including bronchitis and pneumonia, as well as ear infections, the report said. For children whose fathers smoke, the health risk is 30 percent higher, it said. Unveiling the report at the Third Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health in London, WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland said it was important to enact laws to help slow the ``epidemic'' of smoking-related illnesses now emerging in children.
Cigarettes
