1 Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control, Public Health Service, US Department of Health and Human Services, Atlanta, GA 30333
To the Editor.
The Committee on Environmental Hazards of the American Academy of Pediatrics has reviewed the acute and long-term health effects of involuntary smoking and offered recommendations to reduce the exposure of children to tobacco smoke.1
Chronic middle ear effusions requiring tympanostomy tube placement occur more often in the children of parents who smoke than in the children of parents who do not smoke.2,3 Although not mentioned in the Committee's statement, this is another important adverse health effect associated with involuntary smoking about which both parents and pediatricians should be informed.