HHS HealthBeat (July 27, 2007)

No smoking in this home

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

There was a time when ashtrays were as much a part of a home’s furniture as lamps. Less so now, though. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the number of homes where there is no smoking is going up.

CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report says homes with rules that say no smoke, no time, nowhere went from 43 percent in 1992 to 72 percent in 2003.

The CDC’s Corinne Husten says that even when someone in the house was a smoker, the proportion of nonsmoking homes went up.

Smoke is unhealthy, and that includes secondhand smoke. Husten says people realize this:

``People like smoke-free workplaces and public places, and we think that as more public places go smoke-free, people become more interested in extending that same smoke-free environment to their homes.’’  (11 seconds)

Learn more at hhs.gov.

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

Last revised: July, 27 2007