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Take the Smoke-free Home Pledge!
Indoor Environments Team
Indoor Environments Team
What is Secondhand Smoke?
Secondhand smoke is the mix of smoke given off by a cigarette and the smoke exhaled by a smoker. It can cause serious health problems, such as heart disease and lung cancer in adults. Children who breathe secondhand smoke are more likely to have bronchitis, pneumonia, ear infections, asthma attacks, wheezing, coughing, and even SIDS.
What is Region 6 doing to help prevent secondhand smoke?
• EPA, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Head Start Bureau, promotes the Smoke-free Homes program to Head Start/Early Head Start staff, directors, and parents through their annual state pre-service conferences in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas. Participants learn how to reduce secondhand smoke and other asthma triggers where children live, learn and play.
• Smoke-free Home Pledge challenges are held between Federal agencies to educate Federal employees about the health effects of secondhand smoke and to persuade them not to allow smoking in their homes and cars.
• Childhood Wellness series are being conducted in key areas of the region to educate health care professionals about secondhand smoke, and the environmental management of asthma in children.
• The University of Texas at Tyler received a grant from Region 6 to encourage families to institute a home smoking ban and to measure the efficacy of the Smoke-free Home Pledge in a clinic setting. Participants will receive education to encourage them to smoke only outside the home and car.
• The Carroll County Resource Council received a grant from Region 6 to work with a youth group called Arkansas Tobacco-Free Athletes. Their objective is to spread the anti-smoking message by using exemplary athletes from low-income, bilingual, at-risk and difficult to serve backgrounds in the rural, central Ozark Mountains.
Where can I go for more information?
Visit the EPA National web site to learn more about Secondhand Smoke and related health risks.
Are you interested in hosting a Smoke-free Home Pledge event?
Contact Paula Selzer by phone at (214) 665-6663 or by email