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Secondhand smoke causes 800 child visits a day to GP's

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Secondhand smoke causes 800 child visits a day to GP's

Posted: Tue, 24 Sep 2013 10:07

Secondhand smoke causes 800 child visits a day to GP's

Around 800 children a day in England visit a GP because of their exposure to secondhand smoke, claims a new campaign launched by Public Health England (PHE).

The Government's campaign warning of the dangers of secondhand smoke says that around 300,000 GP consultations a year take place caused by this smoke, which it describes as an 'invisible killer'.

The TV and online advertising campaign highlights the impact that second hand smoke has on people, explaining that more than 80 percent of it's invisible and odourless, but contains harmful cancer-causing toxins and poisons. The TV adverts for the campaign show that smoking out of a car window or the back door is not enough to protect children from second hand smoke.

Exposure increases a child's risk of lung disease, meningitis and cot death, says the campaign, and treatment, hospital and GP visits for secondhand smoke-related illnesses costs the NHS more than 23.6 million per year.

As part of the campaign, PHE commissioned a survey involving 679 smoking parents from England. Results from the survey showed that 68 percent of parents who smoke admitted to doing so in the car with their children present and 75 percent were suprised to hear that secondhand smoke affected the health of children.

English chief medical officer Porfessor Dame Sally Davies said: "It's well known that smoking kills, but many smokers still don't realise the damge thier smoke causes to those around them".

Professor Kevin Fenton, director of health and wellbeing at PHE, said : "We hope these figures showing the number of children who need hospital treatment for the effects of secondhand smoke and the information contained in the campaign will provide a wake up call to many smokers out there".

Article from The Advisor, Vol 4 Issue 3.

Tags: GP's, News, children, smoking

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