Page 1956 - Week 07 - Thursday, 31 May 1990
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extent of our debt and the extent of our assets. I think it is very important that it now go to the Public Accounts Committee for scrutiny so that it can then report back to the Assembly and we can determine the value of the committee's report.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY
Ministerial Statement and Paper
MR HUMPHRIES (Minister for Health, Education and the Arts), by leave: I would like to thank the Assembly for so graciously giving me leave to inform members about World No Tobacco Day and associated activities and government initiatives in the ACT. World No Tobacco Day is a World Health Organisation initiative first held in 1988. World No Tobacco Day, celebrated annually on 31 May, calls on smokers to abstain for 24 hours and aims to encourage governments, communities, groups and individuals to be aware of the problems associated with the use of tobacco and to take appropriate action. To facilitate this the World Health Organisation proposes a theme for special consideration and action each year. For 1990 the theme is "childhood and youth without tobacco". I notice that the members of our Assembly who smoke have left the chamber - I sincerely hope not to light up. I will encourage them both - there are only two, I am pleased to say - to engage in a period of abstention for today, being World No Tobacco Day.
Children can be the victims of tobacco from the moment they are born, and even before. Adults expose children to risks which they believe concern only themselves: women who smoke during pregnancy, putting the foetus at risk, and adults who smoke when they are with babies or small children, increasing the risk of respiratory or ear infections. The adverse effects of smoking on pregnancy range from low birth weight to an increased incidence of spontaneous abortions, prematurity and stillbirths and neonatal deaths. Long-term effects on the child include impaired physical and intellectual development. There is a link between passive smoking in childhood and a wide range of health problems, especially those of a respiratory nature. Bronchitis and other respiratory illnesses are significantly more common in the first year of life if a child has one smoking parent and even more common if both parents smoke. Admission rates to hospitals for respiratory problems are up to three times higher for children of smoking parents.
It is important that adults recognise the effect that their smoking can have on children. Aside from the direct effects due to exposure to tobacco, children whose parents smoke are more likely to smoke themselves. Children look to parents and adults as role models. If parents,
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