A study conducted by York University has evinced that passive smoking leads to almost 22,000 fresh cases of asthma and breathlessness in children yearly. It also costs the Government £23 million to treat these disorders.

The study reveals that second hand smoke can be given the onus of leading to 20,000 chest infections, 120,000 spells of middle ear disease and 200 cases of meningitis in youngsters.

Moreover 40 infants lose their lives due to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) declared that one in every five of SIDS deaths can be related to the passive smoking.

The study emphasizes that children become vulnerable to chest and ear infection since they posses smaller lungs and their immune system is not fully developed. These infections can be set off by smoke.

The Executive Director of nursing and service delivery at the Royal College of Nursing, Janet Davies, remarked that this report should be considered an admonition to any person who smokes around infants and children. She observed, “The alarming evidence in the report makes it a moral duty to protect young people's health from the dangers of passive smoking”.