Visit http://yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.nsf/content/homepage.htm or call (202) 564-2188.

Demographics

Children’s Environmental Health Disparities: Black and

African American Children and Secondhand Smoke

This fact sheet focuses on disparities in exposure to secondhand smoke for Black and African American children. 

This fact sheet also provides important actions that can be taken to protect all children. 

Pollution in the environment may 

harm children more than adults. This 

is because children’s bodies are still 

growing. Also, they eat more, drink 

more, and breathe more in proportion to their body size than adults. 

And children’s normal behavior can 

expose them more to pollution. This 

means that exposure to a given 

amount of pollution results in a larger 

quantity of the pollutant in children’s 

bodies compared to adults. 

Children of racial and ethnic minorities and poor children may be exposed 

to more pollution.93 Thus, they may 

face the biggest health risks from 

pollution. This fact sheet describes 

Black and African American children’s 

health risks related to secondhand 

smoke. It tells you how you can take 

actions to protect all children. 

What is Secondhand 

Smoke? 

Secondhand smoke, or environmental tobacco smoke (ETS), is a mix 

of smoke from the burning end of a 

cigarette, pipe, or cigar and smoke 

exhaled by smokers.It contains more 

than 4,000 chemicals, many of which 

cause cancer.24 Secondhand smoke 

is especially bad for children because 

their bodies are developing, and 

because they breathe at higher rates 

than adults do. 

Secondhand smoke is a major trigger for asthma.94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99 Studies have linked secondhand smoke 

to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome 

(SIDS), bronchitis, pneumonia, and 

ear infections.100, 101, 102 Each year 

the US spends more than $700 million on children’s medical costs due 

to secondhand smoke.”90 Children 

born to women exposed to ETS 

while pregnant have shown signs of 

delayed development in speech and 

language, learning, and memory.25, 26 

Smoking in the home is a key 

source of secondhand smoke. Kids 

spend most of their time at home 

and indoors. A national survey found 

that almost 3 million children (11%) 

aged 6 and under are exposed to 

secondhand smoke at home four or 

more days per week.27 This survey 

also found that exposure to secondhand smoke was higher in households with low income and educational levels, and higher in African 

American households regardless of 

the age of the children. 

Older children are also at risk 

from exposure at home and school. 

Twenty-two percent of middle 

school students and 24% of high 

school students are exposed to secondhand smoke in the home.91 

Exposure to secondhand smoke 

has declined during the 1990s. 

Education campaigns about the 

dangers of smoking and secondhand 

smoke may have played a role in the 

decline.29 Many of these efforts now 

target teens and parents of children 

with asthma. 

What Can You Do? 

If you smoke, don’t smoke in your 

home and car. Don’t allow family and 

visitors to do so, either. Moving to 

another room or opening a window is 

not enough to protect your children. 

Smoke outside until you can quit, 

away from children, and away from 

doors and windows to prevent the 

smoke from entering the home. 

Don’t smoke if you are pregnant 

or near someone who is pregnant. 

Visit http://yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.nsf/content/homepage.htm or call (202) 564-2188. 

Secondhand Smoke 
EPA100F08030 

Take the EPA Smoke-Free Home 

Pledge: Call 1-866-SMOKE-FREE 

(1-866-766-5337) or visit: http:// 

www.epa.gov/iaq/ets/pledge/index.html. 

For more information on how to 

protect kids from ETS, visit http:// 

www.epa.gov/iaq/ets/. 

What’s Being Done? 

Here are some examples of efforts 

by Federal governmental agencies, 

local and national organizations to address secondhand smoke. 

EPA’s Smoke-Free Homes Program website can help you keep your 

home smoke-free. It offers bilingual 

brochures explaining the dangers 

of secondhand smoke that you can 

download. To learn more, visit http:// 

www.epa.gov/smokefree/. 

The Ad Council and EPA work 

together on the National Childhood 

Asthma Public Service Campaign. 

The Campaign raises awareness 

about secondhand smoke and other 

asthma triggers. It also provides tips 

for parents about simple steps they 

can take to help their child. To view 

the radio and TV campaign materials, 

available in English and Spanish, visit 

www.noattacks.org. 

The Centers for Disease Control 

and Prevention (CDC) has a bilingual 

Tobacco Information and Prevention Source (TIPS) website. TIPS 

describes the health hazards of 

smoking. It features a Tips 4 Youth 

section, where kids can test their 

knowledge. It also has fact sheets 

and posters for anti-smoking campaigns. The site describes community 

action plans and state anti-tobacco 

programs. For more information, visit 

http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/index.htm. 

Healthy and asthma-friendly 

schools are free of tobacco. CDC 

offers an easy-to-use self-assessment and planning tool for schools 

to improve their health and safety 

programs. To access this tool, visit 

http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/ SHI/Default.aspx. 

Many workplaces and other 

facilities are now smoke-free. The 

American Nonsmokers’ Rights 

Foundation tracks tobacco control 

regulations in a database. It publishes 

maps and lists of smoke-free cities, 

states, universities, hotels, airports, 

restaurants, and other venues. To 

learn more, visit http://www.no-smoke. 

org/goingsmokefree.php?id=519. 

Chemicals from secondhand 

smoke can be measured in the 

blood. A study found that levels 

of cotinine, a breakdown product 

of nicotine that can be measured 

in blood, were on average four 

times higher in Black children 

than White children30 

RESOURCES: 

For more information on children’s environmental health, visit the 

EPA’s Office of Children’s Health Protection and Environmental Education at http://yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.nsf/content/homepage.htm. You can also call the office at (202) 564–2188. 

n America’s Children and the Environment data/indicators, http:// 

www.epa.gov/envirohealth/children/index.htmn 

n Office of Minority Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, http://www.cdc.gov/omh/ 

n Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units, www.aoec. 

org/PEHSU.htm or call toll free 1–888–347–2632 

n National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, National 

Institutes of Health, http://ncmhd.nih.gov/ 

n African American Health Care and Medical Information, http:// 

www.blackhealthcare.com 

n African American Health Network, National Medical Association, 

http://www.aahn.com 

n Kaiser Family Foundation Health Disparities Report: A Weekly 

Look at Race, Ethnicity and Health/ http:// kaisernetwork.org/ 

daily_reports/rep_disparities.cfm 

n DiversityData, Harvard School of Public Health website on 

indicators of how people of different racial/ethnic backgrounds 

live includes comparative data about housing, neighborhood 

conditions, residential integration, and education, www. 

DiversityData.org 

n Unnatural Causes, a TV documentary series and public outreach 

campaign on the causes of socioeconomic racial/ethnic inequities s in health, http://www. unnaturalcauses.org/ 

Visit http://yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.nsf/content/homepage.htm or call (202) 564-2188.