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SAN FRANCISCO, Mar 22, 2004 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Children with asthma face serious harm if adults smoke cigarettes in the home, U.S. allergy and asthma specialists said.
New studies indicate if parents smoke in the house, it wipes out the benefit of drugs that can protect children against the deadly lung disease. Moreover, the specialists said, efforts to get moms and dads to quit smoking for the benefit of their kids are not having much of an impact.
"We need stronger persuasive measures to get parents to understand how important it is to stop smoking in their homes if they have children with asthma," said Dr. Robert Holzhauer, clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Rochester School of Medicine in New York.
Holzhauer and other specialists stopped short, however, of advocating legislation to make smoking in the homes of children with asthma equivalent to child abuse.
Copyright 2004 by United Press International.
