The Egyptian Gazette last Friday featured an article stating the health risks of smoking to people and specifically, children.  The article cited Dr. Hassan Tawfiq, head of the Health Insurance Authority in Benha, as saying that smoking causes several fatal diseases in addition to lung cancer. 

Additionally, Laila Karam Eddin, Professor of Psychology at the Higher Institute for Childhood Studies, Ain Shams University, stated in the article that: “In research in developed countries, animals have been exposed to the nicotine and other harmful substances in tobacco. After some time, they contract cancer and other fatal diseases.”

Laila warned that smoking has negative effects on children because children seek to imitate their parents. Laila says, “children look up to their mothers and fathers. When they see one or both of them smoking, they want to copy them and it soon becomes a habit then an addiction…Smoking is also very bad for unborn children. Pregnant women should avoid sitting beside smokers and husbands who smoke should be aware of this,” she stresses.” 

The next time you or someone decides to smoke a cigarette, be sure to remember the fatal consequences of smoking for the smoker, children, and those around you inhaling second hand smoke.