Cigarette smoking can cause serious health problems. If you smoke, you have an increased risk for cancers, respiratory infections, allergies, heart disease and stroke among many other health-related problems. If your child is exposed to second-hand smoke, he or she could also have health problems. These include worsening of asthma, increased frequency of colds and ear infections, decreased immune response, and more cavities. Children are more susceptible to the dangers of smoking because they breathe at a faster rate than adults. This means that they take more air into their lungs during a specific time period than an adult normally would.

Nicotine is a chemical that is found in cigarettes. Cotinine (pronounced coat-e-neen) is a chemical that is made by the body in response to nicotine. When people are exposed to nicotine, their bodies make cotinine. By measuring the amount of cotinine in saliva, one can estimate how much cigarette smoke that person may be exposed to. People can be exposed to nicotine through smoking or being exposed to second-hand smoke. Second-hand smoke is the smoke that comes from the burning end of a cigarette or is exhaled from the lungs of a smoker. People who do not smoke and who are not exposed to second-hand smoke should not have any cotinine in their saliva. People who do smoke or are exposed to second-hand smoke will typically have a cotinine level above 5ng/mL.

Can exposure to environmental tobacco smoke be prevented?

If your child has cotinine in his/her saliva, there are several things you can do to minimize their exposure to second-hand smoke. These things are:

• Avoid smoking in your home
• Avoid smoking in your car or other enclosed areas where your children spend time.
• If you need to smoke, do so outside, away from your children
• Change your clothes after smoking so that your child is not exposed to the smell of smoking that lingers on your clothes.
• Ask other people not to smoke in your home. This includes family or other caretakers of your children.
• If someone must smoke inside, limit smoking to rooms with ventilation or use fans that can send the smoke outside.
• Teach your children about the hazards of smoking and how to avoid second-hand smoke.
• Make sure your child’s daycare or schools are smoke-free.
• Ask to sit in smoke-free sections when eating at restaurants or other public places.