Environmental Health in Israel | 2014

 Figure 2 Source: Israeli Ministry of Health (5) Self-Reported Asthma in Children Age 13–14, by Parental Smoking In a study on asthma prevalence in Israeli-born children of Ethiopian origin, households reporting parental smoking had a higher asthma rate compared to households that were smoke-free. Research on Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke in Israel  Researchers at the Technion Center of Excellence in Exposure Science and Environmental Health (TCEEH) are currently studying the indoor dynamics of different constituents of tobacco smoke, in particular nicotine and its progenies (SVOCs), and their chemical effects on molecular and enzymatic changes in saliva. Research at the Technion has shown that exposure to third-hand smoke ozonation products in the indoor environment may pose significant health risks.  Researchers from the Helen Schneider Hospital for Women showed that the pregnancy rate in women undergoing in vitro fertilization with high quality embryos is affected by active but not passive smoking.  Researchers from the Hebrew University–Hadassah School of Public Health and Assaf Harofeh Medical Center are currently conducting a case-control study on ETS exposure (including cotinine measurements) among children attending the emergency room with respiratory symptoms compared to a control group.  Researchers at Tel Aviv University are studying ways to reduce child exposure to tobacco smoke, including studies on parental perceptions of childhood exposure to tobacco smoke, reviews of intervention programs to encourage parental cessation, and a randomized controlled trial of an intervention program to protect children from tobacco smoke.  The MoH is planning to measure urinary cotinine in Israeli adults and children in 2015 to estimate exposure of non-smokers to ETS. Jewish Arab Percentage 0 2 4 6 8 Neither parent smokes At least one parent smokes 6.6 5.3 8.1 7.9 - 27 - Environmental Tobacco Smoke