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A Closer Look

Children and Tobacco Smoke

The effects of passive smoking on infants and children have been explored in nearly 60 studies during the past dozen years. Although some investigations have produced conflicting results, the overall trend has been clear-cut: passive smoking imperils the child's well-being.

Measuring Exposure

Newborns and infants absorb tobacco smoke constituents from their environment, metabolize these substances and excrete them in saliva and urine. A 1984 study examined children who had been exposed to tobacco smoke at least twice during the preceding 24 hours-and children who had not been exposed to smoke during the previous week. Urine and saliva concentrations of both nicotine — found only in tobacco smoke — and cotinine were significantly higher in the children who had been exposed to smoke. The more cigarettes the child's mother had smoked, the higher the levels.