World No Tobacco Day
Posted May 31, 2011 1:28 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Tuesday is “World No Tobacco Day” and the coalition of local health organizations is marking it by urging smokers to butt-out when there are kids in the car.
Ashley Jensen is a co-chair of Smoke-Free Calgary and says kids are especially vulnerable to second hand smoke and, with no legislation in Alberta, her group wants parents to take it upon themselves not to light up around the little ones.
“They breathe at a faster rate and there’s a whole bunch of illnesses associated with exposure so we really just want to raise awarenes,” says Jensen.
In fact, studies have show exposed kids are at greater risk for bronchitis, pneumonia, ear infections, tonsillitis, asthma and SIDS.
In Alberta, only Okotoks, Athabasca and Leduc have taken their own initiative to ban smoking in cars with kids.
The World Health Organization says tobacco will kill nearly six million people this year, including 600-thousand non-smokers.
By the year 2030, experts say the death toll could reach 8-million a year.
The W.H.O. says governments are still not doing enough to persuade people to quit or to protect others from second hand smoke.
Tobacco kills up to half its users and is described by the W.H.O. as “one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced.”
It causes lung cancer and chronic respiratory diseases and is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases.
