Children deserve protection from passive smoking

Children deserve protection from passive smoking in the car. Adults can make their own lifestyle choices but their children have less choice not least concerning passive smoking, which is dangerously concentrated in confined spaces such as cars. Given the medical evidence, this could constitute a form of invisible abuse on the physiology of the child.

After building up a head of steam in the Lords with support across party lines, the Smoke-Free Private Vehicles Bill from Labour’s Alex Cunningham reached the Commons last week as part of an ongoing campaign. The last Labour government introduced legislation to stop passive smoking in public spaces. It has boosted the number of people giving up and is seen as immensely beneficial, despite initial controversy.

Children should, logically, be a priority for protection from passive smoking, as they are particularly vulnerable to second-hand smoke with smaller lungs, faster breathing and less developed immune systems. And yet there are still situations in which they are exposed to very high concentrations of second hand smoke.

The damaging effect of passive smoking on children’s health is well documented. A 2010 Royal College of Physicians report found that smoking near children can cause respiratory illnesses such as asthma, bronchitis and reduced lung function. Each year, passive smoking results in more than 165,000 new episodes in children of disease of all types, 300,000 primary care consultations, 9,500 hospital admissions and around 40 sudden infant deaths. The cost totals more than £23 million per year in primary care visits, asthma treatment and hospital admissions in the UK.

Research also shows unacceptably high concentrations of cigarette smoke found in the car. A study  from the University of Waterloo in Canada found that a single cigarette smoked in a moving car with the window half open exposes a child in the back seat to around two thirds as much second-hand smoke as in an average smoke-filled pub, as measured before the 2007 smoking ban. Levels increase to over eleven times those of a smoky pub when the windows are closed. Children have no choice about whether they are exposed to passive smoke in cars by adults, and yet when asked they overwhelmingly feel there should be legislation on the issue. A 2011 British Lung Foundation/TNS survey found that 86% of 8 to 15s said that they want the Government to stop people smoking when children are in the car. Half reported that they had at some point been exposed to cigarette smoke in a car.

Given this evidence, the idea that an adult’s right to smoke around children in a car beats a child’s right to good health looks reckless at best. Tackling childhood exposure to passive smoke, and making sure people in this country start their lives with good respiratory health is an issue that should resonate with all Labour supporters.

Ian Mearns is the Labour MP for Gateshead