Daily HealthBeat Tip

Too young to smoke

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I'm Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

A statistical look at the health of America's children shows smoke is a smaller part of their lives. This year's "America's Children" report says, among other things, that there's been a drop in smoking and in breathing secondhand smoke.

At the National Institutes of Health, the director of child health and human development, Dr. Duane Alexander:

"Ten years ago, 88 percent of children had a marker in their blood called cotinine that indicates exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke. That's gone down from 88 percent to 59 percent � still too high, but a major improvement." (12 seconds)

Alexander says the drop in cotinine also shows smoking itself is less common among young people. He says avoiding smoke is one of the best things a person can do to protect his or her health.

Learn more at www.hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I'm Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: July 31, 2006

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