High carcinogen levels in smokers' kids

MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 11 (UPI) -- A U.S. researcher says 90 percent of children living in a house with an adult smoker have evidence of tobacco-related carcinogens in their urine.

Janet Thomas of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis says researchers examined children of smokers -- age 1 month to 10 years -- and found average of levels of tobacco-related chemicals amounting to 8 percent of those found in a smoker. All of her fellow researchers expected some level of exposure to carcinogens, she says, but the levels were higher than anticipated and "striking."

"No one knows the long-term impact of cumulative exposure to these chemicals. It could prime the body in some way that leads to DNA changes in cells that might contribute to lung damage, and potentially lung cancer," Thomas says in a statement. "My concern is that parents and family members may not truly understand the risk they pose to these children."

The researchers tested urine samples from 79 children who lived in a home where at least one parent smoked. The findings were presented in Philadelphia at the American Association for Cancer Research Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference.