CHICAGO — In the first national estimate of its kind, a report from government researchers says more than 1 in 5 high school students and middle schoolers ride in cars while others are smoking.
This secondhand smoke exposure has been linked with breathing problems and allergy symptoms, and more restrictions are needed to prevent it, said the report by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
With widespread crackdowns on smoking in public, private places including homes and cars are where people encounter secondhand smoke these days. Anti-smoking activists have zeroed in on cars because of research showing that they're potentially more dangerous than smoke-filled bars and other less confined areas.
The research was being released online Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
The CDC report is based on national surveys at high schools and middle schools. Students were asked how often they rode in cars while someone was smoking within the past week. The most common answer was one or two days. The smoker could mean other kids or parents; the report didn't specify.
A CDC fact sheet suggests that even small amounts of secondhand smoke can be risky. "There is no risk-free level of exposure to secondhand smoke," it says.
Overall, 22 percent of teenagers and pre-teens were exposed to secondhand smoke in cars in 2009, the latest year for which data are available. That figure declined gradually during the decade, from 40 percent in 2000, researchers found. But the numbers of youths still facing the risks "is certainly problematic," said CDC researcher Brian King, the report's lead author.
"The car is the only source of exposure for some of these children, so if you can reduce that exposure, it's definitely advantageous for health," King said. The CDC advises parents to not allow smoking in their homes and cars, and says opening a car window will not protect kids from cigarette smoke inside.
Measures banning smoking in cars when children are present have been enacted in some states.
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