International Consultation on Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) and Child Health

    Responding to the 1997 Declaration on Children'ss Environmental Health of the Environment Leaders of the Eight (G8)¹, WHO convened an International Consultation on Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) and Child Health in Geneva, Switzerland from 11 to 14 January 1999. The Consultation brought together experts from developed and developing countries to examine the effects of ETS on child health and to recommend interventions to reduce these harmful effects and eliminate children’s exposure.

    The Consultation concluded that ETS is a real and substantial threat to child health, causing death and suffering throughout the world. ETS exposure causes a wide variety of adverse health effects in children, including lower respiratory tract infections such as pneumonia and bronchitis, coughing and wheezing, worsening of asthma, and middle ear disease. Children’s exposure to environmental tobacco smoke may also contribute to cardiovascular disease in adulthood and to neurobehavioural impairment.

    The Consultation also concluded that maternal smoking during pregnancy is a major cause of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and other well-documented health effects, including reduced birth weight and decreased lung function. In addition, the Consultation noted that ETS exposure among nonsmoking pregnant women can cause a decrease in birth weight and that infant exposure to ETS may contribute to the risk of SIDS.

    The scope of these health effects on children is broad, given that almost half of the world’s children are regularly exposed to ETS. Most have no choice in the matter. Preventing children’s exposure to tobacco smoke will lead to improved child, adolescent, and ultimately adult health, resulting in reduced mortality and substantial savings in health care and other direct costs.

    Swift action to highlight the need for strong public policies to protect children from exposure to tobacco smoke is essential. These policies should aim to ensure the right of every child to grow up in an environment free of tobacco smoke. This can be achieved by two complementary strategies: eliminating children’s contact with tobacco smoke in utero and in childhood, and reducing overall consumption of tobacco products. Effectively implementing these strategies requires combining educational programmes and legislative interventions aimed particularly at eliminating tobacco use in settings frequented by children.

International Consultation on ETS and Child Health Report, January 1999

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Background papers

A series of background papers related to ETS and Child Health were prepared in advance of the International Consultation on Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) and Child Health

(1) Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russian Federation, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America