Banning Smoking in Cars with Children Present

Banning Smoking in Cars with Children Present

It is perhaps no surprise that more than seven hundred doctors and other health experts have put their names to a letter that urges MPs to get behind an England wide ban on smoking in cars, in which children are travelling.   The matter is before Parliament this week for a vote.

The signatories to the letter that was published in the British Medical Journal say that this move is necessary "to protect the well-being of children now and in the future".  Those who have added their support to the ban include doctors, surgeons, nurses and other paramedical staff working in all areas of the NHS.  In the letter the fact that exposure to second-hand smoke is a "major cause of ill-health in children" and this is particularly so in groups that are more disadvantaged, is highlighted.

Smoking in cars exposes children to "high amounts of tobacco smoke" and there is now agreement that children need to be protected from such wholly avoidable hazards.

In the UK a figure of just over a fifth of adults smoke and of those over a fifth admit that they do smoke when their children are around them.  They may not know that even if the car window is open the smoke can be present in the air for up to two and a half hours.  In that smoke are over four thousand chemicals some of which have been proved to cause cancer.  Chest infections, asthma, ear problems and even cot death are also linked to exposure to cigarette smoke.

The figure of three hundred thousand visits to the GP by children suffering from the effects of second hand cigarette smoke, is only topped by the figure of nine and a half thousand that have to be admitted to hospital as a result of inhaling second hand smoke.

A ban on smoking in cars is currently in effect in some US states such as California, as well as in parts of Canada and Australia. 

It must surely a good idea to save children from breathing in second hand smoke, although how it will be policed is difficult to imagine.  It will be interesting to see how the vote goes.

UK Health Radio – the health radio station for the United Kingdom, Europe and beyond at www.ukhealthradio.com – is kindly sponsored by www.1-stop-health-shop.com

Amanda Thomas

UK Health Radio