“If your child has fragile lungs, asthma, or any breathing problems, smoking makes it worse,” says Dr. Stephen Pont.
“Some kids who have never had asthma can have an attack if they’re exposed to smoke -- whether it’s inside the house, inside the car, or even outside.
If you smoke less than 5 cigarettes per day or go more than half an hour in the morning before your first cigarette, these are great signs you’re not yet addicted...a great time to quit!”
Dr. Stephen Pont is a physician at the Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas (Seton Family of Hospitals) and is medical director for AISD’s Student Health Services.
Smokers in Austin could soon have fewer places to light up.
Austin’s 8-year-old ban on smoking inside bars, restaurants and live music venues might be expanded to include outdoor patios and decks at those businesses.
Live Tobacco-Free Austin Advocacy Group, a private organization, is pushing for the change, saying studies show secondhand smoke can be just as harmful outside as indoors.
The Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department supports the idea, as does a city commission, the Early Childhood Council. The Austin City Council would have to make it law, but it’s not clear whether the council wants to.
[...]
Jennifer Conroy, head of the tobacco-free group, said about 80U.S. cities and counties have adopted smoking bans for bar and restaurant patios.
Smoking “is the number one preventable killer in this country.
Everyone thinks if you just move outside or stand a few feet away you will be fine, but the effects are still there,” said Conroy, a public health consultant who said her advocacy group has more than 250 members. “You wouldn’t let your kid handle benzene or arsenic, so why would you let them hang out on a patio where those chemicals are going into their lungs?”
If approved, the new smoking ban would take effect on April 7, 2013. What do YOU think about smoking in patios and restaurants? Have you, or your children, ever been bothered by the second-hand smoke? Do you agree with this proposed ban? Let us know in the comments sections below!
It’s not easy being a single parent, and for Jessica, it’s especially challenging. Not only is she a student, a bank employee, and a handball player who competes nationally, this 28-year-old also is the mother of a child with severe asthma.
Jessica’s son, Aden, was 3 years old when he was diagnosed with asthma. Although Jessica never smoked, many of Aden’s attacks were triggered by exposure to secondhand smoke. Jessica’s mother, who watched Aden during the day while Jessica was at work, was a smoker. Unfortunately, Jessica didn’t know the connection between secondhand smoke exposure and asthma.
