Posted by Dave Dykema - email
TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - Researchers say smoking in the home is being linked to more school absences for kids.
"My parents smoked around me my entire life growing up and that's probably why I'm a smoker," Melissa Detizel said.
She doesn't believe her kids get any sicker just because she smokes.
"I don't think so. I'm a smoker. I mean, in my opinion, but I do smoke outside. I keep the smoke away from my children," Detizel said.
New research suggests otherwise.
The Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics published a study that links kids who live in a house with smokers to a higher number of absences from school.
Cheryl Horn is a respiratory therapist at Promedica Toledo Hospital. "The best thing you can do for your child is quit completely," Horn said.
She says second hand smoke causes up to a million ear infections in kids every single year.
Horn says stepping outside to light up doesn't mean you're not exposing your kids to the harmful chemicals in cigarettes.
"There is such a thing as third hand smoke, which means when you come back in, the tar and everything that's sticking to your clothes rubs off onto your furniture," Horn said.
Horn says that can lead to bronchitis and asthma, and says prolonged exposure to cigarette smoke changes your breathing patterns forever.
"That airway remodeling and scar tissue that's formed in the lungs never goes away, so that's permanent damage that's not reversible," Horn said.
