BMJ 1995;311:1164 (28 October)

Letters

Protecting children in cars from tobacco smoke

EDITOR,--There is considerable evidence that exposure of children to environmental tobacco smoke is associated with an increase in morbidity in those with pre-existing asthma and an increase in the number of new cases of asthma.1 2 In Australia, accreditation standards for child care now require that day care centres be smoke free,3 and nearly one in four smokers report voluntarily smoking only outdoors at home.4

While the state regulates many aspects of the domestic environment (for example, electrical and building standards, smoke detectors), there are few precedents for the regulation of personal behaviours such as smoking in homes (although sexual and violent behaviour towards children is outlawed in many countries). When adults smoke in the enclosed, confined interiors of cars small children who are passengers are involuntarily exposed to often prolonged, concentrated volumes of environmental tobacco smoke. To our knowledge, public support for the regulation of smoking in cars has never . . . [Full text of this article]


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This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Jalleh, G, Donovan, R J, Stewart, S, Sullivan, D (2006). Is there public support for banning smoking in motor vehicles?. Tobacco Control 15: 71-71 [Full text]  
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