Children do not choose to smoke, however they become passive smokers when they are exposed to secondhand cigarette smoke. Small and enclosed spaces such as cars are especially harmful, where the toxic pollution that is generated is three times higher than the levels accepted by WHO.
That is why the Collegiate Medical Organization of Spain (WTO), the body that represents all the Official Medical Associations at the state level, urges the Government to ban smoking in cars where children and pregnant women travel. He considers that doing so represents a “tort, a form of abuse towards minors and an attempt against their health”.
Risk for children and pregnant women
Inside a car, children traveling in it directly receive the smoke that comes from the smoker. Even if the windows are opened or the air conditioner is turned on, they have a faster breathing rate than adults do and a less developed immune system that makes them more vulnerable to smoke toxics.
It is also very harmful for pregnant women, since exposure to smoke during pregnancy, even if it is second hand, is related to problems in the physical and psychic development of the baby such as growth retardation and low birth weight, as well as respiratory problems, cognitive deficits, behavioral disorders in the childhood stage.
They ask that it be prohibited by law
With this petition, the WTO joins the allegations made by the National Committee for Smoking Prevention (CNPT) to the draft law that will modify the current Tobacco Law.
They ask sharply that article 7 of the current Tobacco Law be amended and that a section that concisely stipulate “the prohibition of smoking inside private vehicles, especially in the presence of minors and pregnant women” be incorporated.
As for smoke-free spaces, it is also requested that the smoking ban be extended to other venues, including soccer fields, as well as in the immediate access to educational and training centers, as in public service and transport stops, even in outdoor areas.
They also ask that equate electronic cigarettes with normal ones, since they also release nicotine being equally harmful to the health of the little ones.
Will it be banned in Spain?
It should be the parents themselves who, knowing that it is a serious damage to the health of their children, decide not to smoke inside a car, but seeing that there are parents who do not, doctors ask the Government to be blunt to this respect.
There are already several countries that prohibit smoking in the car in the presence of minors (including the United Kingdom, Fracia and Asutralia), but despite the many voices that ask for it, the prohibition by law in Spain is still waiting. Let's see if we see progress in the next modification.
