Smoking ban in cars a ‘huge win for children’s lungs’

A CHARITY boss has welcomed a “huge win for children’s lungs” with a new law banning smoking in private vehicles where minors are present.

The regulations, which take effect from today, will extend smoke-free provisions to private vehicles in certain conditions.

Those conditions, which must all be met, are: a child or children are in the vehicle, and there is more than one person in the vehicle, and the vehicle is enclosed.

It will be an offence to smoke in such a vehicle and will also be an offence for a driver to fail to prevent smoking in a smoke-free private vehicle.

Joseph Carter, Head of Asthma UK & the British Lung Foundation NI said, “This new ban is a huge win for children’s lung health and a great start for tougher measures on tobacco control in NI. Second-hand smoke has been found to be detrimental to children, placing them at higher risk of respiratory infections, asthma, bacterial meningitis and cot death.”

The health minister Robin Swann hailed the new regulations as a “landmark day”.

“It will reduce the risk of smoking to our loved ones, particularly children, protecting them from the harm caused by inhaling second-hand smoke and of equal importance, it also sends out a clear message of our determination to tackle the dangers of smoking which kills thousands of people each year in Northern Ireland,” Mr Swann said.

He added, “I hope it can also provide a spur to smokers to give up smoking once and for all.”

While he welcomed the news, Mr Carter says that smoking restrictions should be extended to public spaces such as playgrounds and more investment is needed in “smoking cessation”.

“The work continues and we’re calling for a new Tobacco strategy that would aim for less than 5% of people smoking by the mid-2030s,” he added.