West Virginia officials have reported that because of hard-core tobacco use in some of the state's poorest households, children on the state's Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program rolls are exposed to secondhand smoke at twice the national average, the Charleston (WV) Gazette reported Aug. 13.

Nationally, 10.6 percent of WIC children ages 4 and under lived in households where a parent or caregiver smoked last year. In West Virginia, the proportion of children in these households was more than 23 percent. State officials say adults are aware of the health dangers to their children from smoking, but in many cases have not been able to change behavior.

"Everybody knows secondhand smoke is bad, but they're still smoking around their kids," said Bruce Adkins, director of the state Division of Tobacco Prevention. Overall statistics on smoking have shown that West Virginia ranks behind only Kentucky in its percentage of adult smokers: more than 1 in 4.

The state last November began a campaign designed to reduce smoking among women of childbearing age, including pregnant women and new mothers.

The disappointing findings on smoking overshadowed more hopeful signs in the WIC data reported by the state Office of Nutritional Services. These included percentages of overweight children and children with anemia that were lower than national averages in program households.