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Back to Motoring news

Motoring news

Smoking in cars 'should be banned'

24/03/2010

Smoking in any vehicle should be banned in order to limit children's exposure to secondary tobacco smoke, doctors have said.

And existing smoke-free legislation should be extended to include public places frequented by children and young people, they added.

The recommendations are among the conclusions of a report by the Royal College of Physicians, which examined the health risk posed to children by smoking and identified potential strategies for addressing the problem.

While the law already requires that vehicles which are defined as 'workplaces' must be smoke-free, the report accepted that this area of existing legislation had not been as successful as others. This has lead to continuing exposure to smoke for younger employees, many of whom are from lower socio-economic groups, Passive smoking and children notes.

In the report, the college's tobacco advisory group said that passive smoking caused more than 165,000 new episodes of disease in children each year, leading to 9,500 hospital admissions. At least 200 cases of bacterial meningitis and about 40 sudden infant deaths each year are also attributable to the effects of environmental smoke inhalation.

The report's authors argue that to prevent children from harm, they should be protected from exposure to cigarette smoke, but also to smokers - who evidence suggests influence young people to take up smoking themselves.

In addition to bans on smoking in vehicles and in public spaces used by children, the report recommends rapid increases in the price of tobacco products, stricter penalties for those involved in illicit tobacco trading, and far tighter control of the stores permitted to sell cigarettes.

Pro-smoking and some motoring groups have reacted angrily to the recommendation to ban smoking in vehicles. Association of British Drivers spokesperson Nigel Humphries told BBC News: "The car is a private space and it crosses a line to start interfering in it, however much one disapproves of smoking."

But Professor John Britton, chairman of the college's tobacco advisory group, defended the medical basis for such a ban.

"There's no question that passive smoking kills children," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Asked how far healthcare professionals should intrude into people's private lives, he added: "Where there's a conflict between the health or choice of an adult and the health or rights of a child, the child should take precedence."