Children face greater risk to tobacco exposure than adults do. Hence, they are more likely to develop life-threatening diseases because of their immature immune system and smaller respiration rates.
Physical exposure to tobacco smoke which include second hand smoke (SHS) and environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) makes children at high risk for developing frightening diseases such as sudden infant death syndrome (SID), acute respiratory infections which include severe asthma and chronic bronchitis, as well as decreased lung functions. Children who are regularly exposed to smoke from smoker parents are even at higher risk in developing such diseases including coronary heart disease (CHD), cognitive impairments, and early emphysema upon adulthood. Signs of children largely affected through smoke exposure may include failure of studies due to decreased in mathematical and visio-spatial reasoning, weakness, and sickly characteristics.
Children who are born with mothers exposed to SHS or chain smokers are prone to have lower birth weight, smaller head circumference, and may possess various congenital anomalies. Exposure to SHS also puts children at risk for developing mental retardation and impaired cognition and behavior.
Social exposure to smoke from movies and films also influence children to initiate tobacco use. The more children start using tobacco, the more likely are the younger ones to follow the same thing. When not controlled, this situation can result to high frequency of tobacco use; therefore, also increasing the number of youngsters who can be affected with the exposure to tobacco exposure.
The susceptibility of children to the dangers and lingering of tobacco use actually highlights the importance of eliminating the exposure to tobacco smoke whether at home, outdoors, or in movies and films.