Educate, don’t legislate, on car smoking

The U.K. smokers’ group Forest has urged the government to reject calls to ban smoking in cars with children.

According to new figures released by the British Lung Foundation (BLF), in England alone about 185,000 young people between the ages of 11 and 15 are exposed to “potentially toxic concentrations of secondhand smoke in their family cars every day or most days.”

But in responding to the BLF’s data analysis, Simon Clark, the director of Forest, said his organization believed the figures were “extremely misleading.”

“They are estimates based on questionable calculations,” he said.

“According to surveys, only a very small number of adults still smoke in cars with children present. It’s inconsiderate and most adults recognise that.

“Legislation is disproportionate to the problem. It would be very difficult to enforce and would be a huge waste of police resources.

“Education has to be better than coercion.”