What is a Smokefree Home?

Smokefree Homes is a voluntary initiative to protect children and nonsmokers from the hazards of tobacco smoke. A smokefree home is a home and car where nobody smokes inside, including visitors.

The home and car are the major source of children’s exposure to tobacco smoke. Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 toxic chemicals too small for the eye to see or the nose to smell. Over 50 of these chemicals cause cancer. 90% of these chemicals stick to the walls, clothes, furniture, hair, and skin for up to two weeks. Children and babies exposed to tobacco smoke in the home and car inhale the equivalent of 60-150 cigarettes a year. Over 17,000 children are admitted into hospital every year because of tobacco smoke. Tobacco smoke is linked to cot death. Young children are more likely to suffer from the effects of tobacco smoke because they can’t go outside, unlike adults. Children and infants are more vulnerable because their immune system is not fully developed, they have smaller airways and faster breathing rates and so inhale more dust containing tobacco particles (up to 40 times more per body weight than adults). Children have greater hand to mouth contact and therefore ingest more toxic chemicals from tobacco smoke. Smoking in the home is the number one cause of house fires in England. Tobacco smoke also affects your pets too. As well as inhaling the smoke they can also ingest smoke particles when they groom themselves.