Hearing Loss and Secondhand Smoke

Do you smoke or live with someone who does? Are kids around? We're not asking because we plan on using some R-rated language. But we sure felt like it after seeing a new study showing yet another danger of secondhand smoke: It doubles kids' risk of hearing loss. Did you hear that?

Add it to this nasty list of secondhand-smoke threats to kids:

• Babies are at higher risk for sudden infant death syndrome, asthma, and respiratory infections.
• Young children are 167% more likely to have chronic, painful ear infections.
• Boys are more likely to develop high blood pressure as adults and to get the heart and kidney disease that can follow.
• Preteens are more likely to become smokers themselves.

That’s not all. Even if your kids are grown and gone, your other “babies” -- the four-legged ones -- can also get cancer, lung infections, and respiratory problems from secondhand smoke. How to nix this health hazard? That's a no-brainer: Do not let anyone smoke in your home or near your kids (even the president or the speaker of the house, in case either tries to sneak a cig in your kitchen while on a campaign swing).

Work to eliminate smoke in public places, including near building entrances. It's a real danger, too. Kids from nonsmoking homes who live in communities with public smoking bans have 39% lower blood levels of cotinine, a sign of tobacco exposure, than kids from counties without smoke-free laws. Fight for local smoking bans. They work!