Secondhand smoke is the smoke that comes from the burning end of a cigarette, cigar, or pipe, and smoke that a smoker breathes out (exhales). Secondhand vapor is the vapor (or aerosol) that someone breathes out when using an e-cigarette. Secondhand smoke and vapor can make asthma worse and cause other health problems in people who are around it.

To help keep secondhand smoke and vapor away from your child:

• Make your home and car completely smoke-free, even when children are not around. Smoking in one room of the house pollutes all the air in the house. Air filters, air fresheners, and open windows can't remove tobacco smoke from the air. Even a small amount of smoke can harm your child — even smoke you can't smell. If someone needs to smoke, they should go outside and stay away from open windows.
• Don't allow anyone to use e-cigarettes ("vape") in your home or car, or around your children. The vapor contains nicotine, fine particles, and toxins that can cause health problems. If someone vapes marijuana around your kids, the chemical that causes a high (THC) can get absorbed into their bloodstreams.
• Remove ashtrays, lighters, and other smoking or vaping materials to help prevent smoking in your home.
• Ask babysitters, friends, and relatives not to smoke or vape around your child.
• Don't let your child go to houses where people smoke or vape. Invite kids to your smoke-free and vape-free home instead.
• If you or anyone else in your household smokes or vapes:
  • Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW or visit www.smokefree.gov for advice on quitting.
  • Keep your rule that no one EVER smokes or vapes in the house or car.
  • When smokers come back inside, they should wash their hands and change their clothing, especially before holding or hugging children.

• Your child is having asthma flare-ups (attacks) that are more frequent or more severe.
• You need more advice about keeping your home and car smoke-free and vape-free.

Your child is having trouble breathing. Signs you might see include:

• fast breathing
• the skin between your child's ribs and neck pulling in tight during breathing
• flaring of the nostrils with each breath

Your child:

• can't catch their breath
• is too out of breath to talk or walk
• or turns blue around the mouth

What can happen if kids are around secondhand smoke and secondhand vapor? In kids, secondhand smoke can lead to many problems, including asthma flare-ups, more ear and lung infections, and missed school days. Kids who are around secondhand smoke can develop hearing loss, lung and other cancers, strokes, and heart disease later in life. Also, kids who grow up in a home where parents smoke are more likely to grow up to be smokers.

E-cigarette vapor contains nicotine, fine particles, and toxins that can irritate the lungs and cause other medical problems. Being around secondhand vapor can lead to shortness of breath, coughing, and other respiratory symptoms.

For a kid with asthma, secondhand smoke and vapor are especially dangerous. Smoking, vaping, and asthma all cause the airways to become swollen, narrow, and filled with sticky mucus. This can cause a kid with asthma to:

• have more asthma flare-ups
• have worse flare-ups
• need to go to the doctor and take medicine more often to keep the asthma under control
• miss more days of school because of flare-ups

What can happen if kids are around secondhand marijuana smoke and vapor? Marijuana smoke and vapor can cause lung irritation and asthma flare-ups. Also, THC is in secondhand marijuana smoke and vapor. Being around secondhand marijuana smoke can make someone feel high. Also, babies and children who are around secondhand marijuana smoke can have THC in their blood. Marijuana causes short- and long-term changes in thinking, learning, and attention; can increase anxiety; and more.