Perhaps you’d endorse the idea that public health officials were trying to make it harder for people to maintain a habit that increases their risk of developing lung cancer, emphysema, heart disease and a host of other problems. Maybe you’d rejoice that you’d never again be forced to carpool to a meeting with a chain-smoking colleague. You might even breathe a sigh of relief for all the children of smokers who would be able to ride to school, soccer practice and piano lessons without being forced to inhale clouds of secondhand smoke.
And some of you – smokers or not – might be more than a tad annoyed at the prospect of Big Brother dictating what you can and cannot do in the privacy of your own vehicle.
No law forbidding all smoking in cars is on the horizon in the U.S. (where a good many people get worked up about proposals to encourage healthy eating by imposing so-called fat taxes on soda, fried foods and the like). But drivers in the United Kingdom may be restricted from lighting up behind the wheel – if the country’s doctors have their way.
A report released Wednesday from the British Medical Assn.’s Board of Science calls on governments in the U.K. to impose a ban on smoking in vehicles as part of its overall effort to “achieve a tobacco-free society by 2035.” Over there, it is already against the law to smoke in buses, taxis and other public vehicles. Extending those rules to private vehicles could be done in one of three ways, the BMA suggests:
The ban could apply only to cars carrying children.
The ban could apply to any car with a passenger of any age.
The ban could apply to all vehicles at all times. (This is the option favored by the doctors, in part because it would be simplest to understand and enforce, they say.)
Why do they care? One of the primary reasons is to cut down on people’s exposure to secondhand smoke, which is especially concentrated inside a vehicle. “Tobacco smoke contains 4,000 known chemicals, 69 of which are known or probable carcinogens,” according to the 19-page report. Experts estimate that 23 children and 4,000 adults die in Britain every year because of the health effects of secondhand smoke.
In research released on Wednesday, the British Medical Association said that the confined environment in automobiles exposes drivers and passengers to 23 times more toxins than a smoky bar. Children are especially vulnerable to second-hand smoke since their bodies absorb more pollutants.
"Smoking in enclosed spaces is especially dangerous," Dr. Jonathan Whiteson, director of the cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation and wellness center at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City, told CBS News. "Outdoors, smoke gets carried away on the breeze - one puff and it goes away." But in a car, he said, the smoke is recycled.
What's more, he said, toxic residue from cigarette smoke can linger on surfaces even after the air has cleared.
In Australia, Canada, and parts of the U.S., smoking in cars is banned when kids are present. In the U.K., smoking in public vehicles like buses and trains is banned, but there is no law against smoking in private cars.
Smoking causes many deadly health problems, including heart disease and stroke as well as numerous forms of cancer. In the U.S., smoking causes an estimated 443,000 deaths a year - more than HIV/AIDS, illegal drug use, alcohol abuse, automobile accidents, suicides, and murders combined, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Vivienne Nathanson of the association said Wednesday that the government should now take a "bold and courageous step."
Would banning smoking in cars infringe on individual rights? "That is for the ethicists and lawyers to discuss," Dr. Whiteson said. "But whatever we can do to raise awareness of the dangers of smoking and limit space where people can smoke, the better."
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