Quit smoking
for yourself, but if you have children, you should know your
bold move will have huge benefits for them, as well.
"Over
125 million nonsmoking Americans are regularly exposed to
someone else's tobacco smoke, and tens of thousands die each
year as a result, including more than 35,000 from heart disease,"
says a release from Smoke Free Society, a nonprofit organization
dedicated to helping people quit smoking.
A
newly released 670-page study from the Surgeon General cites
"overwhelming scientific evidence" that secondhand
smoke causes death from heart disease, lung cancer and other
illnesses.
"More
and more studies are coming out every day that clearly indicate
secondhand smoke is the culprit for all these illnesses,"
Smoke Free Society founder Rez Seyedin says in a telephone
interview from the organization's headquarters in Palm Beach,
Fla. "This new report from the Surgeon General gives
us that extra boost we need to bring the community together.
Over time, we might be able to make a change."
Smoke
Free Society suggests that Sunday, which is National Parents
Day, would be the perfect day for parents to quit smoking,
for the sake of themselves and their families. In addition
to the direct physical harm parents cause their children by
smoking, they also set a bad example.
"Parents
are the most important role models in their children's lives,
and if they engage in self-destructive behaviors, such as
smoking, chances are their children will too," according
to Smoke Free Society. "Research indicates that children
whose parents smoke are twice as likely to become smokers
as children of nonsmoking parents. Every day in the United
States nearly 4,400 children as young as 8 start smoking."
Seyedin
says the strugle against cigarette manufacturers advertising
spending is a difficult one, because nonprofit organizations
can't compete with corporate budgets.
"Cigarette
companies are spending their money — $15 billion a year
— to advertise their product, just in America,"
Seyedin says. "That's $28 per child in this country,
whereas the government only spends a dollar."
According
to Smoke Free Society, www.smokefreesociety.org, stopping
smoking is the best gift a parent can give his child.
"Parents
who smoke should quit smoking," the site says, "before
the destructive addiction becomes their children's lethal
legacy."
Stacy Smith Segovia
can be reached at 245-0237 or by e-mail at stacysegovia@theleafchronicle.com.
Originally published July 19, 2006
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