New Risks Identified from Second Hand Smoke

Smoking, ADHD link found: study

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/smoking-adhd-link-found-study-20101008-16b0g.html

"Wendy Max, Professor of Health Economics at the University of California San Francisco, said the results showed how passive smoking could impact on a child's overall health as well as learning and social development.

Prof Max said the trend of a rising smoking rate in developing nations ensured those countries less equipped to deal with the ramifications would bear an increasing burden.
"Children in countries with high smoking prevalence are at greatest risk," Prof Max said.
"As smoking rates in developed countries (such as Australia) continue to fall, the burden of childhood exposure to second-hand smoke will be disproportionately borne by countries that already face economic disadvantages."

A huge issue affecting the AP region. Thailand has made a number of moves in this area and is to be applauded for some of them. Their ban on advertising of tobacco products is noticeable to anyone paying attention. One downside is the silly censoring of smoking in TV movies in which a smoky vaseline splodge follows what everyone knows to be a cigarette around the screen. Marring the movie and hiding nothing. ( A US Lobby Group's brief appraisal of Thailand's efforts: http://www.tobaccofreecenter.org/resources_country/thailand, Risk Factors of Tobacco Use Among Thai Adolescents: http://www.mat.or.th/journal/files/Vol92_Suppl.3_4_9867.pdf, Thailand Government on Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Bans: http://www.who.int/tobacco/training/success_stories/en/best_practices_thailand_adv_ban.pdf)

Indonesia however continues to lag behind, trampling the rights of Indonesians to clean air. Indonesia is one of a very few countries in the world that has refused and failed to sign the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. It is common in Indonesia to ride in public transport in which half of the passengers are men, many of them smoking and the other half women and children breathing in the fumes with the windows closed. Indonesian sports and entertainment promoters continue to use Corporate Tobacco to promote, fund and hijack their events, linking the cool of the musicians with the whiff of smoke. (A US Lobby Group's brief appraisal of Indonesia's woeful situation: http://www.tobaccofreecenter.org/resources_country/indonesia, BMJ: Tobacco Control in Indonesia: http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/8/1/85.extract, Full Text: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1763925/pdf/v008p00085.pdf)