TOBACCO - A FUTURE DISASTER FOR TURKEYS CHILDREN

Limited data from Turkey indicate that smoking presents a major threat to Turkish children. Parental, particularly maternal, smoking results in an increase in spontaneous abortion, low birth weight, congenital abnormalities, neonatal death and decreased physical and mental develo pment in the Infant, which can persist into adult life. Parental smoki ng results in increased rates of respiratory and middle ear illness in children, more so in infants and in older children more school absenc es. Naturally both of the effects are even greater if the children sta rt to smoke themselves. Smoking parents are more likely to have smokin g children, so that the cycle of illness repeats in future generations . Doctors have a major responsibility to save both present and future generations from this disaster. In this article appropriate action is outlined.