Background Despite multiple published guidelines outlining the potential health risks caused by tobacco smoke, young children continue to be exposed to the detrimental effects of household smoking. Environmental factors also have the potential to influence levels of tobacco exposure in children. Many factors such as comfort can influence the decisions of smoking parents to smoke indoors, increasing potential harm for children. Understanding the correlation between various locations within the household and tobacco exposure is helpful in informing a harm reduction strategy for smokers. This project compared the location of reported tobacco use to detection of the nicotine byproduct cotinine in children’s urine samples. Objectives To determine the impact of smoking location on unintentional tobacco exposure in children. Design/Methods This prospective cross-sectional study focused on children under age ten, since 13% of Canadian children in grades 6 and up have tried a cigarette at least once. Of 286 parents approached during a pediatrician visit, 231 agreed to complete an exposure questionnaire and 132 children were able to provide a urine sample during the visit. A standard ELISA assay was used to measure urine cotinine. Results About half of the 31% of households that reported smoking had an indoor smoking ban. Some indoor smokers isolated their activity to the garage (56%). Of the 84 children with detectable urine cotinine, 62 lived in homes that reported smoking. This suggests that some children were exposed to tobacco smoke through other sources or the underestimation of potential tobacco exposure. Fifteen percent of children from smoking homes had cotinine levels similar to nonsmoking homes. Children of indoor smokers were more likely to have detectable cotinine than those of outdoor smokers. Conclusion Roughly 50% of smokers with children have an indoor smoking ban as a harm reduction strategy. In our study, children of smokers with an indoor smoking ban were less likely to have detectable urine cotinine. Although not smoking is the best strategy, limiting smoking to outside is an optimal harm mitigation strategy. For families with indoor smokers, encouraging them to isolate smoking to a single space like the garage may decrease unintentional pediatric exposure.
Introduction/Background The Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS) recently released the “Global climate change and health of Canadian Children” statement. As climate rapidly evolves from “change” to “crisis” there is an increasing pressure toward sustainable conferencing. Knowing the value of attending meetings, the growing body of literature evaluating travel-related carbon cost and convention sustainability can inform environmental harm minimization. Conferences can pressure venues to increase sustainability by choosing sites and venues wisely and communicating their requirements to rejected venues. They can also offer carbon offset purchase through credible companies (e.g. Gold Standard). Over the last 10 years the CPS has conducted its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at host cities that reflect Canada’s large geographic footprint. Venues included both hotel and standalone conference centers. There is no published evaluation of sustainable practices for CPS meetings. Objectives Evaluate the past 10 CPS Annual General Meetings (AGMs) for: Design/Methods Travel-related carbon cost was estimated with a round-trip calculator for economy seating the most direct available flights (https://co2.myclimate.org/en/offset_further_emissions). Cities of origin for attendee were the 11 CaRMS-matched pediatric residency training programs (https://www.carms.ca/match/psm/program-descriptions/). Venues were evaluated based on current publicly available self-reported information using conference sustainability criteria suggested through a literature review and public rating tools (Green Key, Quality Standards of the International Association of Convention Centres). Ground transportation from the airport was scored /3 by: public transport from airport (1), formal shared transport (1), fee deterrence for parking (1). Venue type was split by hotel-associated (H) and standalone convention centre (CC) meeting facilities. Sustainability of meeting facilities was divided into supports /2 (rentable supports, links to local vendors, catering and personnel) for exhibitors (1) and event planners (1), policies /3 by: sustainability, promotion of a green community (1), and waste management (1), and walkability from accommodation /1. Results The last 10 CPS AGMs were held in western (3; Vancouver 2010, Edmonton 2013, Vancouver 2017), eastern (1; Charlottetown 2016) and central (6; Quebec City 2011, London 2012, Montreal 2014, Toronto 2015, Quebec City 2018, Toronto 2019) provinces; in 2020 it is in Vancouver. Central Canada sites had the lowest air travel carbon cost per attendee. Average air travel-related carbon cost per attendee for different host cities ranged from 0.479 (London) to 0.919 (Vancouver) tonnes, with Ontario and Quebec sites averaging 0.518, Charlottetown 0.654 and Edmonton 0.756 tonnes. Ground transportation scores differed by city from Montreal (3/3 with public transit, formal transportation share and parking fees to dissuade driving) to London (0/3), with more favorable public transit options in larger cities. Venues differed when divided by hotel with meeting facilities (H) vs standalone conference center (CC), with CC outranking H for clearly posted sustainability plans (1.6 vs 1.2/2; 2=venue-specific, 1=company chain policy, 0=no plan), green and sustainable community building plans (1.6 vs 1.2/2; 2=greening local communities, 1=company chain policy, 0=no plan) and green waste management policies (1.2 vs 0/2; 2=venue-specific, 1=company chain policy, 0=no plan). Walkable accommodation was equal and present for all venues, with attached accommodation for all but one CC (Montreal), which had immediately adjacent hotels available. Conclusion As expected, the carbon cost of air transportation per attendee was lower in central provinces. Ground transportation from the airport was better in larger host cities. Standalone conference centres had more sustainable event support and locally focused policies regarding sustainability, environmentally friendly community building initiatives and waste management solutions, three major components of “greening” conferences. Based on the available resources across Canada, we recommend that the CPS considers these sustainability criteria in planning future events.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.