Leading doctors call for anathema on smoking in cars

Sam Lister, Health Editor & , : {}

Twenty of Britains most senior doctors call today for a ban on smoking in cars as part of a sweeping expansion of laws to protect children against the effects of inhaling smoke.

Writing in a letter to The Times, the doctors argue for more anti-smoking legislation to address the serious health problems caused by passive smoking.

The signatories, including 13 presidents of medical royal colleges, urge the Government to bring in laws prohibiting all smoking in vehicles and in public places by young people such as parks and playgrounds.

The letter recommends a comprehensive strategy to cut adult smoking and childrens smoke exposure outside and inside the home. About two million children are exposed to cigarette smoke at home, with a child twice as likely to take up the habit if a close family member smokes.

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The doctors say that the national strategy must include tobacco price rises, media campaigns, more effective health warnings and better provision of smoking cessation services.

A report today by the Royal College of Physicians warns of the toll on health and the NHS caused by passive smoking. It concludes that more than 300,000 GP appointments and 9,500 hospital admissions a year are caused by the effects of smoke on children, costing the NHS about 23 million. Paediatric health problems attributable to second-hand smoke include 20,000 cases of lower respiratory tract infection, 120,000 cases of middle-ear disease and 200 cases of bacterial meningitis, it estimates. About 40 sudden infant deaths are also caused by passive smoking annually.

The doctors writing in The Times point to the reports evidence of passive smoking as a major cause of death and disease in children [which can] be avoided entirely.

They argue: Smoke-free legislation needs to be extended much more widely, to include public places by children and young people, and including prohibition of all smoking in cars and other vehicles. As doctors we call on the Government to take the necessary action to protect our childrens future.

The reports authors, the Tobacco Advisory Group of the Royal College of Physicians, concluded that laws banning smoking in enclosed public places, introduced in Scotland in 2006 and the rest of the UK in 2007, had been highly effective. But there were still gaps that needed to be closed.

The change in the law was supposed to cover vehicles used for work but it was rarely enforced, the group said. A total ban would address the problem, and ensure all children were protected. However, it remains unclear how rigorously police officers would enforce any change to criminalise all motorists and passengers who smoke.

John Britton, the reports lead author, said that new measures could include banning parents from smoking at school gates, but added that it would be difficult to legislate for situations such as family parties in private gardens. This report isnt just about protecting children from passive smoking, its about taking smoking completely out of childrens lives. Adults need to think about whos seeing them smoke.

Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer, said that the report was very valuable and would be considered in the Department of Health review of the legislation in England this year.

Simon Clark, of the smokers lobby group Forest, said that banning smoking in cars was unacceptable and unenforceable. Adults should be allowed to use their common sense, he said.