Smoking in cars with children

[mumof2222222222222222boys]

I have just seen that there is a proposal that it should be banned (as it is in some countries) given the concentration of toxins in a limited space.

What do you think?

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8079357.stm

I smoke and have done for the last 20 years unfortunalty. I wish that cigarettes would be banned altogether and then I would have to quit. I HATE smoking. (At the moment I'm on champix to give up but it is bloody hard) I gave up for the whole of my pregancy but started again 4 weeks after DD was born. I used to dream about smoking most nights thoughtout my pregnancy. Lets get rid of them altogether please and stop this addiction. If cigarettes were brought out nnow they would be class a drugs i'm sure but becasue they have been around for ages it seems to be ok. but its not. I will continue to struggle to give up.

PS I don't smoke in the house or in the car but my DD has seen me smoking. She picked up a crayon the other week and pretended to smoke it. Thats why I'm now on champix.

Wish me luck in giving up please.

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"I'm assuming this relates to the window closed. Does anyone know if there is also any evidence to show that smoking with the window open is also harmful? (Or maybe simply in an open space)?"

According to what the expert said on R4 Today programme yesterday, with the window open it still exposes kids to 25times the safe limit of toxins (as opposed to 100times with window closed) , you can "listen again" to him here - item listed at 07:35

Meant to had I always HATE seeing people smoking around/near/in front of kids, it's just not fair on them, glad to see I'm not alone

I remember the one time when I was a kid & I was in my uncle's car when he smoked, it was vile and I was actually physically sick needless to say he never smoked with me in the car again

BetsyBoop that's exactly the kind of informAtion I'm after, thanks

lowrib
some more info here to beat your DP round the head with

petnik
good on you for giving up, you CAN do it

go petnik go!!
I stopped after 20 years. i still think about it but mainly to be so pleased I don't smoke. I got hypnotised a couple of times (it really really helped0

I love not smoking far more than I ever loved it.

I used to get horribly car sick when my mother smoked. But I also used to get horribly car sick travelling with my Gran, who never smoked.

Thanks again BetsyBoop, that's great stuff.

I'm on one now!
I want to show that in the car with the window open, or even smoking outside, it's still a bad idea.

I found this article about a smoking study on the BBC site.

It says "One of the more surprising results ... was that even parents who only smoked outside the home still had children with nicotine in their bodies. The level of nicotine was halfway between children in a complete non-smoking household, and the level in a house of smoking adults. "

Which is bad news for kids of all outside smokers, (although it does say they can't rule out misreporting).

Yes it's a bad idea but not only because of the risk to children - if someone's smoking then there's a risk of you getting smoke in your eyes, which if you're approaching a junction, driving down a motorway, generally in control of a ton of moving metal is a BAD idea. If you're smoking whilst driving then you're not concentrating while lighting up, one hand is off the wheel, you might get ash in your eye, drop the end of it in your lap...

I used to be so worried when my ex smoked whilst driving and that was back when smoking was legal everywhere.

I don't think you can use the fact that cigerettes distract smokers theory for banning it as some posters have claimed otherwise where would it end, all cars to be automatic, windscreen wipers and indicators operated by foot, loose hair should be fastened under hair nets, no music, dvd's for the passengers, no GPS, sun visors down at all times, no putting on or taking off of sunglasses,passengers (especially children) should not hold, eat, drink anything for fear of choking, spilling, no one should speak or move whilst the car is in motion, and let's face it kids would probably be banned as they are the biggest distraction of all.

Whilst smoking in cars is not the healthiest of pursuits, sitting in a car in summer, in traffic, windows open or closed is probably the most likely way for a child to get cancer because the level of cancer causing pollutants in the air is so high, this also goes for walking in major cities in said conditions, living near industrial complexes and recycling, electricity plants.

Then lets not forget the cancer causing properties we introduce to our children every day, baggies for food, plastic containers for food, tin cans and plastic bottles, juice containers, food wrap, tin foil, chemicals in the soil, gm contamination, radon under our houses, magnetic fields from our tv's computers and electrical products, microwaves and mobile phones, wi-fi and the em fields from endless miles of electrical cables around our houses , pollution from our cars and toxicity from our leather furniture or scotchguard type products, cleaning products and even our bbq's to name but a few.

Lets face it the level of oxygen in our atmosphere is nearly 50 % lower now than fifty years ago worrying about a few cigarettes should be the least of our children's health problems.

Sorry forgot to mention the biggest cause of cancer amoungst children artificial sweetener, the type that is in childrens fruit juices and bottled water that claims to have a 'hint' of juice.

Hi atlantis, which artificial sweetner is that????

Is it aspartame? I don't give my kids anything with artificial sweeteners in it, except medicines, but that's oly because there is no choice!!

Could me have some evidence for those claims Atlantis?

Sorry, we. I find those claims about aspartame and childhood cancer a bit surprising. I'd like to see some evidence to back them up.

Yes Atlantis we face lots of daily risks

So why exaccerbate them by comfining a chid in a small space with even more carcinogens?

I'm with pan on this one tbh

i think it should be banned and smoking around children full stop should be illegal.

i will never understand how any mother can smoke right next to her child. why dont they stand outside the back door with the door shut.

they should have the choice what kind of air they want to breathe in.

there is a mum at my daughters school who is always smoking her brains out over her children's pram. i bet she smokes in her home. the other week when i was dropping something into reception she was there handing over handful of inhalers. i bet the reason he needs them is because she probably smoked when pregnant, breathed her toxic fumes over his little body (you breathe out toxic fumers for up to five hours aftwe smoking) and around him most of the time. or maybe his breathing problems are un related.

i can not understand people who smoke around children full stop. fair enough if you can really not stop then just make sure your child is never within breathing distance.

i am an ex smoker and yes it was bloody hard to stop but i will always put my childrens health first.

you always hear some idiots saying, "well my mother smoked when pregnant with me and i'm all right".... i feel like saying well no actually, "take a look at yourself in the mirror!", they are usually saying that too with fag hanging out of their mouth.

so are they saying its ok to risk it, your child maybe ok, but are they really ok with taking all the risks?

cot death - there has been proof that that the amount of cot deaths would fall drastically of parents did not smoke. they are not even talking about smoking away from your baby. the toxic fumes you breathe for the hours after is what caused the damage.

sorry o have gone off on one.

why is it so hard for people to accept.

smoking is bad for you - so SMOKING IS BAD FOR YOUR CHILDREN!

Oh, and Atlantis, about your frankly insane claim that the oxygen levels in the air have fallen by 50% in 50 years - WTF?
Are you by any chance confusing ozone and oxygen?

"Lets face it the level of oxygen in our atmosphere is nearly 50 % lower now than fifty years ago worrying about a few cigarettes should be the least of our children's health problems."

????

So you think its ok for your children to breathe in cigarette smoke? A few wont hurt?

if i walk behind someone who is smoking and i breathe in a wave of their smoke, it actually makes me feel sick so imagine a tiny pair of lungs, it would actually fill them - its sick!

i think this kind of debate separates parents who put their childrens health first.

I find it very hard to understand while people who have children Smoke, i really do.

I would rejoyce at a total smoking ban but it will never happen, the Government get to much tax off it and even if it was illegal to Smoke people would still do it, its illegal to take drugs but people do it, it would just give a bigger market to Drug Dealers becuase some people are just to weak willed to give up smoking.

I would certainly class smoking in the presence of a Child a form of Child abuse becuaseat the end of the day you are damaging that child's health.

I think a public Smoking ban should be inforced because there is nothing worse than walking in town and having to smell toxic smoke from selfish smokers, especially when im with my children, one of wich he a sever respitoryy condition.

I ALWAYS report people somkng in areas where the bn is in place.

Our local hospital has a total ban yet some selfish fuckers still find it ok to stand in the courtyard under the childrens ward and smok, its Staff and visitors and patients, i complain everytime, i don't see why my sick son should have to bake in his room becuase we can't open the windows due so smoke.

Yes people should be fines heftily if found somking in thier car when a child is present.

Sorry rant over.......

I'm another one who felt sick with parents smoking in the car and that was often with the window down too. I cannot understand people who smoke with little ones.

"By devotion on Sat 20-Jun-09 11:52:08
i think this kind of debate separates parents who put their childrens health first."

Exactly. There are risks involved in every day life, but smoking is not one that children should ever have to be exposed to. We don't have to smoke, we can all give up, pregnant women get free prescriptions and can get nicotine replacement therapy on prescription all through their pregnancy and for a year afterwards. What excuse is there, really????

But sadly there will always be people who will find a way to justify the things they want to do. Smokers will say there is nothing wrong with their children, as they hand out inhalers and doses of antibiotics for chest and ear infections. I mean, look at me? My mum smoked until I was in my teens (by which time I had started!!) she smoked through her pregnancies (the MW told her not to give up ans it made for smaller babies and easier deliveries!) and even when in labour. No-one thought to go to a different room to smoke away from babies and children, my parents smoked in the bedroom and everything even when holding and feeding us. I have no chest problems, no asthma, no cough, I have had about 3 chest infections in my life, and two of them have been in the last 18 months! Does this mean that smoking around babies and children is ok? Is there no risk involved? Of course not. We know that smoking is addictive and harmful, we know it can and does do all kinds of damage, but, because it's a long established practice it's not banned (yet) and as such there are still selfish people lodged deep in denial who don't make any effort to protect their children from the smoke from their cigarettes.

Makes me very