Counselling smoking mothers protects their children from passive smoking

Almost half the world's child population is exposed to tobacco smoke at home. On p 337 Hovell et al report the effects of a behavioural counselling programme for smoking mothers to decrease their children's exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. The study showed that counselled mothers reported a significantly greater decrease in their children's exposure than did control mothers. Children's urine cotinine showed a slight decrease after counselling, compared with a large increase among controls. The authors conclude that counselling is effective and that similar programmes in medical and social services might protect millions of children from environmental tobacco smoke in their homes.