Smoking should be banned in all public places where children are present, a health expert said today.The call came as a report on passive smoking found signs of smoke inhalationin 100% of children tested, even though half had no recollection of being in asmokey environment.
Mr Maurice Mulcahy, environmental health expert at the Western Health Board, saidaction had to be taken in the light of his report, which is being submitted tothe Department of Health.
He said that although only a third of the Irish population smoked, all of thechildren tested in the Galway study were victims of passive smoking.
"The interesting thing was that unknown to a lot of the children 50% couldnot remember any exposure and yet when the results came back they all hadlevels," Mr Mulcahy said.
The highest levels of exposure to tobacco smoke were in children's own homes(27%), in other people's homes (13%) and in restaurants (10%).
Researchers found that if the child's mother smoked, levels of inhalation weretwice as high than in those whose fathers smoked.
Mr Mulcahy said that if stricter rules were imposed on smoking in publicplaces parents would be less likely to smoke in their own homes and around theirchildren.
Some 164 12-year-olds from schools in Galway were tested for smoke inhalationover a three-day period. They were asked to fill in questionnaires recordingexposure to smoke.