Parents magazine and the American Legacy Foundation launch Parents Quit for Good, a special quit plan for moms and dads. Help smokers quit and help eliminate secondhand tobacco from children’s lives -- just in time to help parents plan their New Year’s resolutions to quit smoking.

This new collaboration will be featured in three upcoming issues of Parents dedicated to helping parents quit. Because smoking is a hard addiction to break, it’s important that parents know they aren’t alone during the quitting process. A new Web site ParentsQuitForGood.com, powered by Legacy’s Becomeanex.com, offers moms and dads step-by-step assistance in identifying their own smoking triggers, advice on ways to get through the day without cigarettes and opportunities to connect with other parents trying to quit. Whether parents smoke a pack a day or only light up occasionally, there’s never been a better time to commit to quit. The website can help parents pick a quit date and stick to it. Once they reach their quit date, the Web site provides a great place for them to share their daily challenges with other parents who are also trying to quit for good.

The effects of secondhand smoke are serious. It is estimated that secondhand smoke exposure causes approximately 3,400 lung cancer deaths and 22,700–69,600 heart disease deaths annually among adult nonsmokers in the United States. Young children who are exposed to secondhand smoke are at a higher risk of developing asthma, ear infections and cavities. Infants are at a higher risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Secondhand smoke is one very important reason for parents to quit, but it is also important because kids whose parents smoke are twice as likely to light up themselves when they get older. No parent wants their child to grow up to be a smoker, so Parents Quit for Good offers a “Ten Things Parents Can Do to Prevent Their Children From Smoking” fact sheet.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is committed to helping eliminate tobacco and secondhand smoke from children’s lives. “As pediatricians, we must help make tobacco use a thing of the past,” said David Tayloe, MD, FAAP, president of the AAP. “Parents Quit for Good will help make it easier for every clinician to help reach every tobacco user and to help parents quit smoking.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics Julius B. Richmond Center of Excellence has several other resources for clinicians and for parents to help protect children from tobacco smoke and to help parents quit smoking. These include the Clinical Effort Against Secondhand Smoke Exposure (CEASE) materials, based on research in family tobacco control and the child healthcare setting. See more information on family tobacco control, medications and secondhand smoke exposure reduction.

“Thirdhand smoke:” Time to take action

A new study in the January issue of Pediatrics, "Beliefs About the Health Effects of Thirdhand Smoke and Home Smoking Bans," shows that adults recognize “thirdhand” smoke which is the tobacco toxins that persist in places that people have smoked in beyond the period of active smoking. Dr. Jonathan Winickoff of the Mass General Hospital and the American Academy of Pediatrics Julius B. Richmond Center found that 65.2 percent of non-smokers and 43.3 percent of smokers agreed that “thirdhand” smoke causes harm to children. This groundbreaking paper about the beliefs about the health effects of smoking have immediate, actionable implications for all areas of tobacco control, and especially for pediatricians and for home smoking bans.

January 2009