Three papers in this week's British Medical Journal support a comprehensive approach to protect children from environmental tobacco smoke and prevent them from becoming established smokers.
Martin Jarvis and colleagues at University College London find that exposure to passive smoking among 11-15 year old children in England has almost halved since the late 1980s, partly due to a fall in the percentage of parents who smoke, and also to reduced smoking in public places. Similarly, Melanie Wakefield, University of Illinois, Chicago, and colleagues report that bans on smoking at home -- as well as bans in public places and enforced school smoking bans -- may reduce teenage smoking in the United States. They suggest that one explanation for this may be that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke during childhood may make children more inclined to take up active smoking in their teenage years "by reducing the noxious deterrence of the first cigarette."
Finally, Melbourne Hovell and colleagues from San Diego State University find that behavioral counseling for mothers in California was effective in reducing young children's exposure to tobacco smoke at home -- illustrating the potential of techniques that impact directly on smoking parents. This view is reiterated in an accompanying editorial by Roberta Ferrence and Mary Jane Ashley of the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, who suggest that shifting public attitudes towards smoking at home in the presence of children means that the climate is now right for behavioral interventions aimed at parents. It is clear, however, that no one strategy will work alone, they say. In addition to increasing smoking restrictions in public places and workplaces, price increases, reduced availability of tobacco products, and mass media interventions, are also crucial if we are to protect children's health and prevent their recruitment to smoking in adolescence.
Contacts: Martin Jarvis, ICRF Health Behavior Unit, University College London, UK Tel: (until Thursday 3 Aug) 44-20-7679-6626; Fax: 44-20-7813-2848; Mobile: 07946-545-445; Email: martin.jarvis@ucl.ac.uk
Melanie Wakefield, Health Research and Policy Centers, University of Illinois, Chicago, USA Tel: (Thursday 3 Aug) 312-413-0298; Fax: 312-355-2801; Email: melaniew@uic.edu
Melbourne Hovell, Center for Behavioral Epidemiology and Community Health, San Diego State University, California, USA Tel: 858-505-4772; Fax: 858-505-8614; Email: behepi@rohan.sdsu.edu
Roberta Ferrence / Mary Jane Ashley, Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, Toronto, Canada Tel: 416-595-6888 / 416-978-2751; Fax: 416-595-6069; Email: roberta.ferrence@utoronto.ca
Effect of restrictions on smoking at home, at school and in public places on teenage smoking: Cross-sectional study; pp. 333-337
Children's exposure to passive smoking in England since the 1980s: Cotinine evidence from population surveys; pp. 343-345
Effect of counseling mothers on their children's exposure to environmental tobacco smoke: Randomised controlled trial; pp. 337-342
Protecting children from passive smoking; pp 310-311
For further information about the British Medical Journal or to obtain a copy of the article, please contact Public Affairs Division, British Medical Association, BMA House, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9JP, Tel: 20-7383-6254 or email: pressoffice@bma.org.uk. After 6 p.m. and on weekends telephone: 44-208-241-6386 / 44-208-997-3653/44-208-674-6294 / 44-1525-379792 / 44-208-651-5130.
Posted by the Center for the Advancement of Health http://www.cfah.org. For information about the Center, call Petrina Chong, pchong@cfah.org 202-387-2829.