Thailand: Push to Ban Smoking in Cars

Thailand’s Tobacco Products Control Committee wants to ban smoking in private cars to protect passengers from secondhand smoke, reports The Nation.

Speaking at a seminar on Nov. 5, Rerngruedee Pathanwanit of the Ramathibodi Medical School at Mahidol University said that approximately 70 percent of Thais are affected by secondhand smoke and an average of 20,688 Thais die of health complications caused by secondhand smoke each year.

She also pointed out that Thailand stands fifth in the list of countries where women aged 15 to 49 are affected by secondhand smoke.

Suwanna Ruangkanchasetr, deputy director of the Tobacco Control Research and Knowledge Management Center, told the seminar that recent research found that up to 55 percent of families with children in the one-five age group had smokers in the house.

Researchers also found unsafe levels of nicotine in the hair of children in homes with smokers, she added.