With comprehensive, smoke-free policies and local ordinances protecting youths, our Duluth and St. Louis County region, which cares deeply about health and health care, consistently has been ahead of the curve in protecting our residents from the dangers of tobacco.
Since the passage of the Freedom to Breathe Act, Minnesotans have enjoyed fresh air in most public spaces. However, we need to do more. Only a small number of Minnesota communities, such as Lake and St. Louis counties, are protecting children in foster care from the dangers of secondhand smoke. This is why I am proud to stand with Rep. Tina Liebling, DFL-Rochester, and Sen. Jeff Hayden, DFL-Minneapolis, who introduced a bill earlier this legislative session to make all foster-care homes in Minnesota smoke-free.
In 2010, about 8,000 at-risk youths were in foster-care homes in Minnesota. The state, as their legal guardian, has a lawful and moral obligation to protect these children. About 80 percent of children who live in foster homes in this country have at least one chronic medical condition. Such conditions can be exacerbated by exposure to secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke contains 11 known cancer-causing poisons and 250 known toxins and is a recognized cause of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, potentially fatal respiratory tract infections, frequent and severe asthma attacks and frequent ear infections.
Infants and children are highly susceptible to the health risks of secondhand smoke because their bodies are still developing. Yet in many parts of the state we continue to put these children at risk. Children in foster care should have the same safeguards against secondhand smoke as they do against other hazardous chemicals such as lead paint, radon and asbestos.
Children placed in foster care need and deserve a healthy and stable environment in which to live. Smoke-free policies help ensure their safety. More than a third of all U.S. states already prohibit smoking in foster-care homes, and the National Foster Parent Association supports smoke-free foster-care legislation. Now it’s Minnesota’s turn to take a stand.
My time at the Capitol has allowed me to be a part of many meaningful public-health policy decisions that have improved the lives of Minnesotans. Rep. Liebling’s bill provides lawmakers with another important opportunity to protect some of our most vulnerable citizens from secondhand smoke. Smoke-free foster care is the right thing to do and the state should lead the way.
