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Seven steps to making your office a tobacco-free zone

AAP members can prepare for October's Child Health Month by making a commitment to transform their offices to help patients and families stay or become tobacco-free.

The tobacco industry's $6 billion a year advertising program successfully replaces 3,000 adult smokers each day with young people — mostly teens — thereby maintaining the industry's position as manufacturer of the leading cause of preventable death in the United States.

According to a 1996 University of Michigan study, smoking among youth rose to a five-year high last year with 21 percent of eighth-graders, 30.4 percent of tenth-graders and 34 percent of high school seniors reporting they had smoked cigarettes in the last 30 days.

If you have not already done so, now is a good time to join other pediatricians in converting your office to one that sends the clear message: You and your staff promote a tobacco-free lifestyle. This powerful message can help pediatricians and other pediatric health professionals become more effective in preventing tobacco use among youth, helping parents who smoke and helping teens who smoke to quit.