Wednesday, December 5, 2001
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Wednesday, December 5, 2001 |
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Parents' second-hand smoke is really a form of child abuse Some (including me) say exposing children to secondhand smoke is child abuse. Don't think I am bashing only Americans; I am also bashing Europeans. Only the reasons may be different. Europeans smoke way too much. And they probably drink too much and still go behind a steering wheel. In some areas of health, they truly are not as enlightened as Americans. After a transatlantic flight, first thing I notice in Germany is people's roughness. Many don't walk, they get air-born flailing their elbows. (God bless Americans for their friendly ways. Believe it or not, in my experience New Yorkers are less roughshod, not only in crammed places than the majority of Germans which offers a plausible explanation of my roughness with you in a recent opinion on health care). And no place to hide from those thick clouds of smoke in every corner of the airport. Unhealthy living sure is one possible drawback in a system of universal health care; for the insurers to avoid incurring higher health care expenditures which would quickly get handed on to the insured health-unconscious folks should be made to pay higher insurance premiums. Unfortunately, I am not aware of any health care system in which this principle has indeed been put fully into action. For all of you to see, my altruism doesn't go far enough to condone the pool's co-financing the heavy smoking of people who foul the air I breath. For all we know about the health effects of even minor exposure to secondhand smoke, smoking of parents anywhere in the house increases their children's risk of ear infections, asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia. Parents who refuse to give up smoking in the presence of their children clearly endanger the health of their children. If you came to my practice, I would signal to you that it is old-fashioned child abuse what you are doing. So far I haven't reported yet a parent to child protective agencies for unabated smoking in their children's presence, but I may do so in the future. In fact, I feel guilty for not yet having done so. Those who think they can sue me for my aggressiveness better think twice; by federal law, anyone reporting real or perceived child abuse is protected against suits. The July edition of "Pediatrics" reports a study in the Boston-Providence area where parental smoking was reduced by about one-third upon installation of nicotine alarms in the homes and subsequent motivational interviewing of parents, in which the goal was to avoid overt persuasion but instead provide information that might make people change their behavior. Gadgets the preferred American way of troubleshooting to escape personal responsibility (other examples: the V-chip, radar detectors in cars, hidden cameras). All that is garbage; it's pure self-deception revealing a lack of will, commitment or capacity to head-on deal with a problem. The solution is simple: If you can't kick your habit, smoke on the porch. It's that simple. And for those of you vacationing in North Dakota don't forget wrapping yourself in three layers of coats, slam muffs on your nose, ear and chin in January and tell your spouse to better check on you if you haven't reported back in more than 10 minutes. Günther Rückl L2355@mindspring.com
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