Smoke Free Homes  
The Smoke-free Home Pledge Initiative
is
designed to educate parents and caregivers about the health risks to children
from secondhand smoke exposure and encourage them to commit to providing a
smoke-free environment in their homes and cars. An estimated 20 percent of U .S.
children 6 years of age or younger are regularly exposed to secondhand smoke in
the home. Protecting children from secondhand smoke is especially important
because their bodies are growing and developing. Exposure to secondhand smoke
can cause children to experience more respiratory infections such as bronchitis
and pneumonia, and middle-ear infections, and more frequent and severe asthma
attacks. Secondhand smoke exposure has also been linked to low birth weights and
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome also known as SIDS.
The
program was developed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (Chinese
language information is available here)
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