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30/03/2011
Smoking inside a car can leave potentially harmful particles lingering in the air for upwards of an hour after the cigarette has been put out, new
research suggests.
Levels of 'particulate matter' - microscopic particles of dust and pollution carried in the air - could remain at hazardous levels in a car for up to
an hour after smoking, returning to previous levels only after two hours.
While the size of the car is a factor in how quickly levels return to normal, merely opening a window "does little" to protect children from smoke, according to the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH), which carried out the
research.
In October last year
, Dr Tony Jewell, the chief medical officer for Wales, called for a ban on all smoking in cars in which children are travelling. However, the latest
research goes further, suggesting that adults should never smoke in cars - regardless of whether children are present.
"Don't kid yourself that because you cannot see the smoke, it is not there doing harm," CIEH director Julie Barratt told the Daily Express.
"Children are still inhaling particulate matter long after cigarettes have been put out."
The research also found that on average branded cigarettes were
associated with small (2.5 micrometre) pollutants twice as much as hand-rolled cigarettes.
The tests were designed to simulate the normal behaviour of drivers who do not carry children in the car while they are smoking - but would smoke in
the vehicle before picking them up. A device was used to record particulate matter in the vicinity of a child restraint seat.
Barratt said the research made a "compelling case for responsible adults to not smoke in cars - even when children are not present".
"Parents should know that the only way to protect children from the negative effects of smoking in a car is not to smoke at all," she added.
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