According to recent findings, many adults don’t fully appreciate the threat of secondhand smoke.

Dr. Jill Halterman of the University of Rochester Medical Center is the lead author of a study that surveyed 231 parents of children with persistent and severe asthma in Rochester, NY. Among their findings, researchers report that asthmatic kids who live with smokers are 10 times less likely to be protected by any smoking ban in the home and car than children who live in homes with nonsmokers.

And it’s important to note that simply smoking in another room in the family home won’t do much to protect asthmatic children—neither will merely opening a window in the car, where smoke is even more concentrated than in the home.
Halterman says the best-case scenario is that the parents quit smoking, if not for their own sakes, then for the sakes of their childen. Another option, she notes, is parents instituting a ‘no smoking’ rule in the home and the car—with no exceptions. It’s best for smokers to always go outside to smoke until they can quit.