ASH Australia media release                                       December 14, 2006

Call to ministers: End passive smoke harm to children in cars

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Australian governments have a historic opportunity tomorrow (December 15) to protect the health of children – by agreeing to make all cars carrying children smokefree.  

Federal and state/territory health and other ministers meet tomorrow as The Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy - and are due to discuss the proposal, supported in media comments by Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Health Christopher Pyne MP.

The South Australian government has already approved a ban on smoking in cars carrying children, and Tasmania is also considering the move.

Health groups have urged all jurisdictions to adopt the measure, following research findings* that smoking in cars:

·         can expose children to secondhand smoke exposure 20 times higher than in homes;

·         increases the risk of accidents and injury to passengers including children;

·         increases the risk of fires both inside and outside cars;  and

·         has a higher impact on the most disadvantaged in the community.

Says Maurice Swanson of the National Heart Foundation of Australia: “Children have a right to be protected. The medical evidence clearly shows that they are particularly vulnerable to illness and diseases caused by exposure to secondhand smoke”.

Says Anne Jones, Chief Executive of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Australia: “We expect the law to be largely self enforcing with police enforcing the law in an opportunistic way – as they already do with laws relating to drink driving, the wearing of seat belts and mobile phone use.

“As figures released in Victoria today** confirm, the community strongly supports smokefree cars carrying children – and the large numbers of fines for mobile phone use while driving shows that enforcement concerns should not be a barrier to protecting children from secondhand smoke.”

* See the research at  www.ashaust.org.au/lv4/cars.htm

** See Quit Victoria release at  www.quit.org.au/media.asp?ContentID=17400

Media info:            Stafford Sanders            Ph. (02) 9334-1823      (m) 0412-070-194

Page last updated 14/12/06