A new hard-hitting NHS advert will hit TV screens in Sheffield from Monday 7th July, highlighting the health risks to children when adults smoke near them, and urging viewers to ‘Protect children. Don’t make them breathe cigarette smoke’.

The advert shows young children and babies appearing to exhale tobacco smoke.

Around 42% of children live in a house where at least one person smokes, and approximately one-third of all smokers say they continue to smoke when near children – that’s over 4 million adults nationwide.

The hard-hitting TV ads will highlight that it’s almost like children ‘smoke too’ when they breathe in secondhand smoke, (also called passive smoke), and that this can increase their risk of going to hospital with serious illnesses, for example bronchitis and pneumonia.

Smoking around children has also been linked in scientific studies to increased likelihood of cot death, asthma attacks, asthma itself, breathing problems, and ear disease.

Secondhand smoke contains 4,000 different chemicals, many of which are highly toxic. These include arsenic, benzene, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide. Over fifty of the chemicals in second-hand smoke are carcinogens.

Secondhand smoke consists of side stream smoke from the burning tip of the cigarette, and main stream smoke exhaled by the smoker. Side stream smoke typically makes up about 85% of the pollution in the room where there are smokers, and contains a higher concentration of some toxins, including hydrogen cyanide, than the smoke exhaled by the smoker.

John Soady who heads the Sheffield NHS Stop Smoking Service said: “We would ask smokers in Sheffield to wake up to the dangers posed to our children by secondhand smoke and give the free local service a call on
0800 068 4490 to access free support to help give up smoking.

“The term passive smoking is misleading – there’s nothing passive about smoking near children and increasing their chances of getting pneumonia or bronchitis or worse. This is a serious health issue and all of us need to ensure that children in Sheffield are not exposed to the poisons in second-hand smoke.

“This campaign is not just about parents, it’s for relatives, friends, carers too – any smokers who spend time with young children.”

For further information about the Smoking Cessation Service, or to find your nearest quit group please call the freephone number on 0800 068 4490.