Reasons For Smoking Ban

Smoking is a plague to our society that causes millions of deaths every year. It is one thing when people decide to hurt themselves through smoking, but it is unacceptable when they do it in places like cars where children are present, making it their problem as well. Smoking should be banned in private vehicles while children are present because second-hand smoke causes many health problems for them and it can also be a catalyst that causes them to take up smoking when they get older. Although it would probably be for the greater good, some people don’t believe that smoking in private vehicles should be banned because of how it would encourage some of the people that would continue anyway to try and hide it in ways that could put the children in an even greater danger than they would be with the smoker just doing it normally. Glover’s article in the New Zealand Medical Journal states that, “Whereas now many vehicle passengers who smoke, do so with a window down, the proposed ban would encourage smokers in cars with children present to contain their smoking within the vehicle perhaps by closing windows, using tinted windows or holding their cigarette below the window line of the car—as cell phone users do with their mobile to avoid detection by police or traffic officers.” While this is a valid point, the overall benefit of the reduction of smoking in private vehicles with children in them would heavily outweigh the downside of the increased risk of the small minority of the children that would still be affected.

The first reason that smoking should be banned in private vehicles with children in them is that the second-hand smoke is more concentrated in a car and can cause a wide array of health issues for the children inside them. The article titled “Smoking bans for private vehicles: children’s rights and children’s voices” Morgan Tymko and Damian Collins state, “ airborne fine particulate matter has been found to reach harmful (and sometimes grossly excessive) peak levels when smoking occurs in vehicles. Ventilation reduces the concentration of particulates during smoking, and increases the subsequent rate of dissipation – but does not eliminate the health risk.” The article then goes on to bring up how some of the health risks of second-hand smoke on children include middle ear disease, lung cancer, and even sudden infant death syndrome. The ban would help to reduce the number of children that get health issues related to smoking.

The second reason That it should be banned is that an adult that is smoking in a private vehicle with children with them could influence the children to pick up smoking when they get older. Tymko and Collins from Childrens Geographies exclaim, “Vehicular smoking bans address the direct health threat posed by such exposure, but are also motivated by role modeling concerns (Hudson and Thomson 2011). Observing family and friends smoking increases a child’s risk of tobacco uptake (Glover et al. 2011). Conversely, enacting and enforcing smoking bans in spaces such as vehicles may send a positive message to children about not smoking.” The ban would likely cause children to be around smoking less and reduce the likelihood of them picking it up in the future. If a ban on smoking in private vehicles with children in them is not passed, then many children will continue to acquire serious health issues from second-hand smoke and many more will be influenced to become smokers in the future that could do it to their own children. The passing of this ban would improve the lives of children now and for many generations to come.