Clean Air: The Breath of Life | RSVP Health
What is asthma? The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) National Institute of Health defines it, as “an inflammatory disease of the lung. This inflammatory process can occur along the entire airway from the nose to the lung. Once the airway becomes swollen and inflamed it becomes narrower, allowing less air through to the lung tissue and causing symptoms such as wheezing, coughing, chest tightness, and trouble breathing. Once considered a minor ailment affecting only a small portion of the population, asthma is now the most common chronic disorder of childhood, and affects an estimated 6.2 million children under the age of 18. The fact that asthma runs in families suggests that genetic factors play an important role in the development of the disease; however, environmental factors also contribute to the disease process. Asthma can be triggered by a wide range of substances called allergens.” Most of us are familiar with the common indoor allergens. Mold, dust, and tobacco smoke are just a few of the indoor allergens that could provoke an attack. Providing clean indoor air is something we usually can control. After all, smoking around children, especially indoors, is a passé, selfish thing to do! Yes, you have the right to smoke, but contaminating a child’s air space gives them no choice in the matter. Secondhand smoke can trigger asthma attacks, make asthma symptoms
…asthma is now the most common chronic disorder of childhood… more severe, and cause new cases of asthma in children who have not previously shown symptoms. According to the American Lung Association, secondhand smoke exposure causes disease and premature death in children and adults who do not smoke. Secondhand smoke contains hundreds of chemicals known to be toxic or carcinogenic, including formaldehyde, benzene, vinyl chloride, arsenic ammonia, and hydrogen cyanide. Approximately 50-75 percent of children in the U.S. have detectable levels of cotinine, the breakdown product of nicotine in the blood. Understand that the small lungs of a child are not fully developed. Having to bear the burden of smoke and chemicals can have lifelong health consequences sometimes resulting in permanent underdeveloped lungs affecting the child into adulthood.
RSVP Health | www.rsvphealth.com 35