Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Smokers to pledge, "no smoking in home, cars"

The Gurdon School District Coordinated School Health will be sending home Smoke-free Home and Car pledges to the parents of students in grades K-8 next week.

In recognition of the National Kick-Butts Day on April 2, 2008, we are asking for parents to join us in the fight against second-hand smoke by committing to be a smoke-free home and car family. said Lisa Turner, Gurdon Coordinated School Health Coordinator.

When the student returns the pledge card to their teacher their name will be entered into a drawing for a $25 and $50 Wal-Mart gift card. The deadline for the pledge cards is April 11, 2008.

Breathing secondhand smoke can be especially harmful to children's health, including asthma, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), bronchitis, pneumonia and ear infections.

Children's exposure to secondhand smoke is responsible for:

-increases in the number of asthma attacks and severity of symptoms in 200,000 to 1 million children with asthma;

-between 150,000 and 300,000 lower respiratory tract infections (for children under 18 months of age); and,

-respiratory tract infections resulting in 7,500 to 15,000 hospitalizations each year.

The developing lungs of young children are severely affected by exposure to secondhand smoke for several reasons including that children are still developing physically, have higher breathing rates than adults, and have little control over their indoor environments.

Children receiving high doses of secondhand smoke, such as those with smoking mothers, run the greatest risk of damaging health effects.

Act 13, which went into effect on July 20, 2006, protects young children from secondhand smoke making it a primary offense for persons to smoke in vehicles where children under the age of six or under sixty pounds is present. The fine is $25, which may be waived for the first offense if the offender enrolls in a smoking cessation program.

Join the millions of people who are protecting their children from secondhand smoke

You can become a child's hero by keeping a smoke-free home and car.