In England, children’s exposure to second-hand smoke has fallen by 80% since 1998, according to a study showing the benefits of anti-smoking policies.
English children are less and less exposed to secondhand smoke. According to one study published in the newspaper Addiction, their exposure has fallen by around 80% since 1998.
Non-smoking homes
Astonishing results which can be explained by the fight against smoking carried out in the United Kingdom since the beginning of the 2000s. Indeed, this fight has led to the gradual adoption of a social norm concerning tobacco-free houses. Over the years, it has thus become “has-been” to smoke at home in England. And the numbers prove it: the rate of children living in smoke-free homes rose from 63% in 1998 to 87.3% in 2012.
To reach their conclusions, the authors of this work gathered data on 35,000 children who took part in the “Health Survey for England” from 1998 to 2012. The exhibition of children with passive smoking was measured using saliva samples measuring the level of cotinine contained in their body. This nicotine derivative offers, according to the authors, a reliable indicator, because it stays in the body longer than nicotine.
Cotinine in the body
In the late 1980s, the concentration of cotinine in the saliva of non-smoking children was 0.96 ng / mL. In 1998, this rate had already weakened, since it was of the order of 0.52 ng / mL. But it is in 2012 that the results are the most evocative. The cotinine level collected is on average 0.11 ng / mL. Two-thirds of children have no detectable trace of cotinine – never seen before.
In addition to tobacco-free homes, the reduction in exposure is linked, according to the authors, to the establishment in 2010 of the National Tobacco Control Plan in the United Kingdom. The ambitious program plans to ensure that two-thirds of homes containing a smoker become non-smokers by 2010. Half of the homes that house children whose parents smoke have already become non-smokers, according to national data.
1 million people exposed in France
In fact, the fight against smoking is bearing fruit. In the United States, the number of non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke was halved between 1999 and 2012, according to the American Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Encouraging figures, which should not obscure a reality: 58 million people are still affected by passive smoking in the United States… and one million in France.
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